iPhone 5C?

[Mukessh]

Looks like iPhone 5C is gonna be a low cost phone , the C probably stands for "Colour" . 
The packaging was recently leaked ! Would you buy one ?
 
 

It’s about the time of the year where the Apple rumourmill goes on overdrive once again. The latest in the Apple rumours comes from the WeiPhone forums where pictures of the alleged “low-cost” next generation iPhone 5′s packaging were leaked. The side of these boxes bear the moniker iPhone 5C which could be indicative of the iPhone with the coloured plastic backs that have been speculated for the longest time. The packaging is in line with the packaging for the iPod Touch and does fit with the design aesthetic expected from Apple.

Here’s where the questions come in though; We have all seen the knockoffs that use very similar packaging to this and in all honesty, packaging is easier to fake than lets say, a chassis. Even if it was real, remember the covers that came out before the iPhone 5 which looked NOTHING like the iPhone 5? This could all be a clever ruse to get people off the scent of an impending iPhone 5S. So for now, I’d take this rumour with a pinch or 2 of salt as even our source, Appleinsider could not verify its authenticity.

Let’s say for the sake of it all that the next iPhone is a Low Cost iPhone 5C available in multiple colour options, what do you think would need to be the features/specs to actually get people to buy this over an iPhone 5 or 4S? Do you think it’s a good move to make inroads into the lower end of the market, where Apple has no history in (old iPhone 4′s don’t count!). How much do you think the iPhone 5C would have to be to win a decent amount of market share?

From lowyat.net . 

 
 
Source : http://www.lowyat.net/2013/07/29/11068/unconfirmed-the-next-iphone-to-be-the-low-cost-iphone-5c/

[Mac]

That packaging is probably Chinese fakes, though the leaked casing is most likely legit.

 

I like the idea, hate the name "Colour" and I would go with the higher spec iPhone.

[Hans Christian | Teri]

The word has been out since forever now, and no I would not buy it. It takes everything good the iPhone has going for it away and makes it a rather pointless handset.

[Volbet]

Either this will make Apple alot of money by opening another market, or it's one of the last breaths of a dying gigant. 

 

As I see it Apple has always been a luxury brand, and by making a cheaper iPhone they are, to some extent, killing their reputition as a luxury brand. 

[calebp123]

I agree with @Volbet they have always been a luxury brand and most people can already afford iPhones so I don't understand why they make a cheaper version.

[Dave :)]

Either this will make Apple alot of money by opening another market, or it's one of the last breaths of a dying gigant. 

 

As I see it Apple has always been a luxury brand, and by making a cheaper iPhone they are, to some extent, killing their reputition as a luxury brand. 

 

Do you see it as another market though? The way i see it is that they're still making a smartphone. I don't feel like the smartphone market can be divided up into sub-markets  such as low, medium and high range markets - it's all kind of...one. It's just a lower priced iPhone....which will still cost a hell of a lot and i'm not entirely sure it would be worth it if the loss of features mirrors the drop in price. Apple is notiourous for their sleek and well thought design, plastic just simply doesn't seem to fit with this philosophy in my eyes.

[newbie]

Either this will make Apple alot of money by opening another market, or it's one of the last breaths of a dying gigant.

As I see it Apple has always been a luxury brand, and by making a cheaper iPhone they are, to some extent, killing their reputition as a luxury brand.

I don't think so since they will of course make the full fledged version

I reckon it wont sell as much as they think

[neon]

The only way I can see a low cost iPhone working is if it was priced SIM free at about the iPod touch price ~£200 any higher and you may as well plum for the higher iPhone, on contract the cheap one will have to be free on a low priced contract since the iPhone 4S is already free.

 

I cannot see many adults buying the 'low cost' iPhone so I assume it will be directly aimed at younger people who may be bought an iPod touch aka teenagers which explains the different colours, the parents only have to then buy one device which is the phone and a music player, and the kid gets the iPhone/Apple status, and Apple wins because they have a good chance of converting all the people who get bought this to Apple products esp. the iPhone for life.

 

Apple want to get rid of the iPod line there is extremely little demand for dedicated MP3 players anymore, a cheaper iPhone for the people who would have bought an iPod touch seems like a good idea.

[Volbet]

Do you see it as another market though? The way i see it is that they're still making a smartphone. I don't feel like the smartphone market can be divided up into sub-markets  such as low, medium and high range markets - it's all kind of...one. It's just a lower priced iPhone....which will still cost a hell of a lot and i'm not entirely sure it would be worth it if the loss of features mirrors the drop in price. Apple is notiourous for their sleek and well thought design, plastic just simply doesn't seem to fit with this philosophy in my eyes.

The part about the company philosophy I agree 100% with. Owning an Apple product sends the signal, that you can afford to own a Apple product. And that, i think, will be ruind by making a "cheap" product. They will on one hand make iPhone accessible for a larger part of the population, but they will lose some brand value. And thereby a part of the reason to own Apple in the first place.

 

The market part you might be right about. The smarphone market might be to small of a price market to make a wider appeal in by reaching out to a cheaper market.    

[Volbet]

I don't think so since they will of course make the full fledged version I reckon it wont sell as much as they think

But there won't be as much status in owning a expensive iPhone, since "everyone" will be able to afford a iPhone

[newbie]

I don't think so since they will of course make the full fledged version I reckon it wont sell as much as they think

But there won't be as much status in owning a expensive iPhone, since "everyone" will be able to afford a iPhone

Yeah but who says it's gonna have the same specs cause we might see this cheap iPhone with a CPU between 4S and 5 or the same as 5.

The future will tell anyway

[Samdb]

That plastic looks so cheap though.

[Mac]

That plastic looks so cheap though.

The white is the only nice one...

[Maskot]

yay, the company that brought you overpriced, under speced but well built products now brings you overpriced, under speced and shitty built products!

 

PASS!

But... The s4 is made out of plastic, what's the difference?

[Yoinkerman]

low priced iphone save $20 over a regular well built one!  If you want any colours it's $30 more!

[CornOnJacob]

I think that this is stupid on Apple's part. The thing that people buy an iPhone for is the aesthetic. It may not be the best specced or cheapest phone out there, but it does look nice. While many people on the forum (including me) would rather have an HTC One, Apple makes a lot of profit because their products sell. I think introducing a plastic iPhone will be mediocre at best, and at worst undermine the premium feeling of buying an Apple phone.

[jrfox87]

Doing a cheaper iPhone is just the same strategy Apple had with the iPod when they released the iPod mini, they have never been afraid of cannibalizing their own products with lower priced versions, they'd rather do it then let someone else.

[CornOnJacob]

Doing a cheaper iPhone is just the same strategy Apple had with the iPod when they released the iPod mini, they have never been afraid of cannibalizing their own products with lower priced versions, they'd rather do it then let someone else.

True, but they didn't sacrifice build quality or the overall feel of the device to do that. I feel like they are doing that with this phone.

[Snake]

I really dont see the point in the...the specs will be terrible it looks, like shit and if its priced above the Nexus 4 im going to laugh.

These will sell a lot but just because theres a apple logo on it.

[Frix]

I doubt the specs will be this bad as they will be releasing around or along with the iPhone 5's, they have shit specs on this "5C" then it will make it look like a complete ripoff

[jrfox87]

True, but they didn't sacrifice build quality or the overall feel of the device to do that. I feel like they are doing that with this phone.

Plastic doesn't mean poor build quality though, the 3G and 3GS used plastic and the build quality and feel of those was excellent. Plastic can result in good build quality and a good feel when its not the thin flimsy crap samsung uses which is a disgrace to plastic. The Lumia 920 and the HTC One X used a type of plastic and both had fantastic build quality. So we won't know until people get this cheaper iPhone in their hands what the build quality is like.

[Nertballs]

just me or isn't this entirely hypocritical of Apples 'There's only one iPhone pitch?'

[beebskadoo]

If this the route they're going then they will be eating their words once again. They said larger screens are useless and look at what they did with the iPhone 5. They said smaller tablets were a waste and then they unveiled the iPad mini. They say samsung phones are cheap because they're plastic, now look what they're doing. And they are constantly bitching because companies copy them? this is why i can't stand apple. 

[JaeDee884]

people keep mistaking what Jobs said as Apple said.
twice Steve Jobs has been separate from the company, last time they ran it into the ground and got him back
this time they won't have that option. 
who knows we might see Microsoft bail them out again! 

[mgsstar]

Looks really cheap that it looks like a toy rather than a phone imo. This will be easily broken if dropped so you would need to get a case in order to avoid cracking of the back if you drop it.