Apple says iPhone 5c hasn't met sales expectations - news discussion

Well it wasn't the budget phone everyone was expecting. People are wising up. Apple have to realise they can't change premium for year old tech any more!
 
Well it wasn't the budget phone everyone was expecting.
To be fair no one ever said it was going to be a budget phone....people saw "C" in the name and decided it meant cheap then get all funny when it wasnt!
 
Agree with the above, in reality the specs were anything but cheap. Internally it's as strong as the 5. Putting it into a plastic shell doesn't qualify as cheapening a product and people jumped to conclusion. They should really consider their market though, they need something to go up against the Moto G's and Lumia 625's of the world
 
Do they though? Why bother chasing low margin customers when you can milk a cash cow with a sizable base of devotees.
 
I really like the 5c. It's the only really 'different' iPhone since the 4.

Like everyone else though, I was disappointed that is was so expensive compared to the 5s. Even the contract pricing is still ridiculous.

However, I have seen a few 'as new' network locked handsets beginning to appear online for sensible prices, e.g. £350. As such, I've picked one from for my wife as a replacement for her 3GS.
 
They should stick to premium products. That's what they do best. I can get the Moto G for under £150 and it's in many ways a comparable Android set and better in many respects.
 
Its not surprise the handset hasn't met expectations. The overall cost to manufacturer the handset is much less yet the price is very high. Whether its lacquer coated or what, its still a piece of cheap plastic reminiscent of the 3G and 3GS series phones. Phones made out of metal are felt to be worth the price as its precision engineering to make that piece of hardware. Vacuum moulding some plastic is not going to make people stand up and say wow. It still cracks and breaks when you drop it. Metal ones don't. It has a lousy feel compared to the metal body of the 5S as well.
 
This is probably the most unsurprising news of the week.

The iPhone 5C is significantly cheaper in looks and feel, yet for some reason it's barely £80 cheaper for a Sim Free 16GB version. Even worse when you look at contract deals.

People just aren't going for the 5C when the 5S is not that much more. A big failing here by Apple, the 5C should have been significantly cheaper than the 5S.
 
Completely agree. If you're going to fork out for a 2 year contract and pay for a handset, most people would pay the extra £50 to get a top of the range model that won't feel old by 2016
 
Actually I upgraded to the 5c as a matter of choice. Ok the s was slightly more expensive but when you spend that much on a phone (for the 5c) unless you are on a very tight budget the 5s is within reach. I went for the c for the following reasons
1 - because it's got funky colours.Seriously - I think the brushed metal look of the s is rather tacky - it reminded me of a cross between bling and burberry.
2 - the fingerprint sensor is a nice touch but secure it ain't. I generally use a 15 character length password or passphrase. With a conservative 61 options (no special characters) per character and a string length of 15 - well I'll let you work out the math (go on - it'll be fun). I have a total of 20 digits (including toes) and 10 of them leave prints every where I go. Also with the NSA and GCHQ's interest in data I'm really not sure I want to rely on a major US multinationals promise that the data is secure and only on the chip. Once HD prints get into the wild, well they are useless as a security key.
3 - the 64 bit architecture is interesting but currently not worth the additional cost in my opinion. I'm sure it will be far more mature in 2 years when I upgrade
4 - finally I upgraded from a 32GB 3GS. I do not upgrade every time a new tech comes out - I try to wear out my old one if it is still functioning adequately. So the 5c was a serious jump in screen resolution and processing power anyway.

Stop dissing the 5c, it's s decent phone (although I agree it's a bit pricey but show me an Apple product that isn't).
Ta
 
I've not upgraded from my 4s yet but if I did it would be for the 5c. Nothing to do with price, I just prefer it over the 5s.
 
I also agree that the 5c did not do very well because the difference in price is not that considerable when compare with the 5s. In addition it does not bring anything new. Even the 5s feels deja vu. It might have a 64bit cpu but it does not bring any benefit to the phone. It is clear that Jobs is long gone.
 
Sometimes keeping quiet about a product until launch, like Apple do, can bite you.
Everyone had decided the 5C was going to be a cheap (£300-400) iPhone, by the time it had arrived it was too late.

If Apple had marketed it for 3 months as the 'funky' iPhone for the Shoreditch crowd, they could have sold much better.

As it stands many see a 5c and think 'couldn't afford a proper one then?'.

It is a great phone and if you want colourful even better, but it was never going to do well at that price without the marketing to get people excited about it.
 
An old phone in a plastic case and it wasn't popular. Who knew?
 
An old phone in a plastic case and it wasn't popular. Who knew?
An iPhone 5 isn't 'old' and the plastic case may actually end up being more durable than the metal edges of the iPhone 5/5s. The number of really grotty and worn iPhones I've seen is amazing.

Anyhow, the wife is loving her white 5c.
 
To be fair it is old though, it was launch summer 2012, it is now 2014, in tech terms it is old.
Still a great phone, and the fact he 5s was hardly an improvement in many regards, makes it even less dated, but to be fair the iPhone is needing a big update now anyway.

I have been using an Xperia Z1 for the last 3 months and it is very impressive, not built as well and too big for me (although a Z1 compact is out next month) and with all my Macs at work and home I have gone back to a 5s today.
But the iPhone feels like a step backwards compared with the Z1, I got one because it just works with everything.

I wouldn't personally have considered a 5c, I need 64gb, but regardless of that, for £3 a month more I felt the 5s was the better buy.
 
Not sure what their strategy was with the colour phone - I'm assuming it was simply a case of them thinking if they waved something slightly cheaper and shinier in the faces of people who couldn't afford the 5S, they'd opt for it. But the 5C just looks so cheap in build-quality, almost like a child's toy, honestly couldn't believe they're charging £469 for it outright.
 
Not sure what their strategy was with the colour phone - I'm assuming it was simply a case of them thinking if they waved something slightly cheaper and shinier in the faces of people who couldn't afford the 5S, they'd opt for it. But the 5C just looks so cheap in build-quality, almost like a child's toy, honestly couldn't believe they're charging £469 for it outright.
Anyone who has handled a 5c wouldn't call it cheap. It's easily as good quality as the high end Nokia Lumias which are plastic.
 
I've handled it. It's cheap.

iPhone 5C review: Verdict | Phone Reviews | TechRadar

When you're shelling out as much as Apple is asking for the iPhone 5C you have to ask yourself does it feel like it's worth the money you're paying? In all honesty, no.

Thanks to its bright colours the iPhone 5C looks a little like a toy phone (even if it doesn't perhaps feel it in the hand), and considering it's similar in price to the
HTC One and Sony Xperia Z is doesn't come close to either in terms of class.

In summary the iPhone 5C is a great phone, it's just a shame it's last year's great phone wrapped in a less appealing shiny plastic body and slapped with a still-premium price tag.

As above

An old phone in a plastic case and it wasn't popular. Who knew?
 
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I've handled it. It's cheap.
Thing is i've had a play with a few that mates have in various colours and i really liked how it felt in the hand....didnt feel cheap in the slightest and, personally, i think it looks quite nice. I've already got an iPhone 5 so i wont be getting one but i wouldnt have been upset had i ended up with one upgrading this time around from a 4/4S.
 
My wife has a 5C and there's no way it feels cheap. It's a lovely phone and I think the only thing Apple got wrong with it is price.
 
Maybe some of the above posters could then explain the thread title?
 

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