“As Apple’s fall product reveal approaches, alleged images of the new iPhone parts are appearing with greater frequency,” Dan Farber reports for CNET.
“The latest is plastic packaging for an iPhone 5C, which appeared on the Chinese WeiPhone discussion forum,” Farber reports. “The 5C could be the rumored lower-cost, plastic-encased iPhone that could show up along with an updated iPhone 5, expected to be call the 5S.”
Farber reports, “What the ‘C’ stands for is unclear.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The “C” likely stands for “Color,” not “Cheap.” Although critics will likely pounce upon the latter (until Apple’s sales figures shut them up, as usual).
Well, this time the font is correct… I may have to eat my words about the black logo on white though…. (referring to a few posts ago with a supposed “finished and assembled” white plastic iPhone).
cookie monster uses a computer
Eating words is not the end of the world. I seriously think these polycarbonate iPhones are going to be huge. The current iPhone 5, or even the 4, are precision instruments, elegant in design like a fine Swiss watch or exotic auto. Many people, especially the young, see the iPhone as ostentatious. Colorful, polycarbonate iPhones have a verve, playfulness and down-to-earth quality that is absent in the flagship model. 5c will fly off the shelves!
Colorful iPhones will become a reality. That and with the new iOS 7 will be a guaranteed hit with consumers.
Gonna be an exciting fall.
Will sell by the boatload. Big hit coming.
The real significance of all these “leaks” is that the world is holding its breath.
5 China?
Agree, my first thought as well.
C is for Cook like S was for Steve!
C is for cookie, and that enough for me…
“C” stands for Carbon (-fibre) !
Alas, not; it is supposed to be “inexpensive” phone, so it is just plastic (though it will be quality one).
‘C’ for Classic
… the form factor even looks like the first-gen iPhone.
C as in “cheap”
To be fair, I question more “5” part of the name. If the hardware leaks are true, the inside of it (besides taller screen) is iPhone 4S with A5-esque SoC on board.
It is logical, since normally Apple would phase out iPhone 4, and iPhone 4S would be sold as “inexpensive” model.
So it is not really an “iPhone 5”, but “plasticky iPhone 4S with taller screen”.
I suppose that Apple will be phasing out glass-and-steel chassis altogether and, contrary to prior years, iPhone 4S is not going to stay on sale.
If Apple will also not keep selling iPhone 5 model — only the new iPhone 5S in flagman segment — then this would dramatically change whole iPhone business concept: there is chance that since now there will be no longer “last year’s” model on sale, but rather two models that will be always new.
Bad move for Apple. Starting to dumb down the quality of materials to the same level of the slavish copiers is a sign of bad things to come. I hope it doesn’t happen.
The iPhone had a plastic case for two generations (3G and 3GS). Plastic does not mean it is “cheap,” but it can lower the cost for both production and assembly. Apple is using it as part of product differentiation between the iPhone choices. Apple is VERY good at product differentiation.
Besides, a lot of customers get an expensive metal-encased iPhone, and then buy a cheap tacky plastic case for it. 🙂
Plastic, no matter how good you can make it is no comparison to metal and glass. To me going back to cheap plastic is a step backwards for apple and the disregard of Steve Jobs vision of the future for Apple products. This is like a Microsoft-Slavish Copiers MO.
Of course plastic is not comparable to metal. That’s the whole point; it’s part of Apple’s excellent product differentiation.
If the low-end choice of iPhone has a 4-inch Retina Display and looks mostly just like the latest iPhone, in the eyes of the typical consumer, there is not much distinction between the models. Things like processor type and storage amount are less obvious, when they see FREE (with contract) next to one and $199 (or more) next to the other. But they can clearly see that one has a colorful plastic case, and the other has gleaming metal case. They understand “fun” phone versus “serious” phone. There is clear distinction, but both are desirable.
Also, there is nothing unusual about the low-end iPhone choice having a plastic backside; it has been the norm. The iPhone 3G became the low-end iPhone when the 3GS was released. That was 2009. Since then, the low-end iPhone choice has had a plastic backside every year, except last year, when iPhone 3GS was replaced by iPhone 4. The iPhone 4 was actually too “good looking” to be the FREE option; not enough product differentiation.
So, during the years when there has been a separate low-end iPhone model, every year except one had an iPhone with a plastic backside as that low-end choice. That tradition appears to be continuing… 🙂
Huhhhh huuhhh huhhh….he said ‘backside’…. huuhhhhuuuhhhuuu..oooooo guuurrlll….. Im a put a wooopin on yo backside
This is interesting.
Plastic is for low end phones.
Metal is for premium.
Now if you have plastic flagship Samsung then it is low end phone.. HTC will be premium in Android.
Users love their iPhone so much, they protect it with cheap plastic covers. I also just bought a new MacBook Air, love it so much , vey light, elegant, 12 hours battery life, most of all No Virus.
I don’t use any protection. I go NAKED all the way.
Users love their iPhone so much. It is funny, they hurried to protect it with cheap plastic covers. I also just bought a new MacBook Air, love it so much , vey light, elegant, 12 hours battery life, most of all No Virus. I should cover it with a plastic cover too.
I’ve always used Apple products as Apple intended. 🙂
But I always smile when I see someone using an elegant thin iPhone buried inside a case that couldn’t be any more unattractive.
Valid point but the 3GS wasn’t plastic.,
The backside of the 3GS was basically the same as the 3G. Plastic, in white and black.
That looks like a trash bin for discarded items. Apple would not allow its contractors to store premium parts helter-skelter.
Exactly. These packages were rejected because they have a C. It was a typo, and should be an S. 🙂
Sure, you want the packaging to be neatly stored inside other packaging?
Is it possible apple is leaking these real pics of phones and cases to get the word out and excitement up among those in the cheap seats who have figured they’ll never get an iPhone because of cost?
Right that pic is going to build up excitement and expectation is it. Wow who said they have lost their edge.
5C = CHEAP? or CRAP? or BOTH?
C never has/had not any good connation whatsoever! be it from
school grading to food grading to anything. C is always 3rd ranking and lower class no matter how smart or stupid you want iPhone 5C to stand for.
Every letter has good and bad connotations. Its up for you. “S” is very successful. but haters choose meaning to Shit.. Sucks.. Stupid.. If Apple go for 5A ass.. 5B bitch.. etc.. haters gonna hate.
C= Clever?… 🙂
No, ‘C’ stands for ‘Cock up Android’s ass’.
I wish I could give you 2 five stars.
C for contactless!
c for China, color, Cook, it doesn’t matter, I agree that folks will pounce on it as c for cheap. I say they just call it “the new colorful iPhone 5.” Make life easy for themselves.
lol, for as much as I am down voted on this site, my posts are about the only ones ever correct here. I called the name of it weeks ago here, the discontinuation of the aluminum 5, the foolishness of selling previous generation iPhones in expensive cases at entry level pricing, the inevitability of an ipad mini, larger iphone, on and on ..
Heck my guesses are 99% better than analysts with supposed “inside information” that get PAID.
You’re a self-glorified negative Nancy.
Good name. It shows that it’s still and iPhone 5, just a different version. “5C” has a nice sound when spoken, that is distinct from “5S.” The C itself does not need to have a specific meaning.
Considering how popular the iPhone 4 has been in the current lineup, if this is its the replacement in the next lineup, it will be an immensely popular choice. And because of the subsidy from the carrier, Apple is likely to make comparable profit per unit, compared to latest iPhone.
The cheap iPhone will help Apple deal with carriers and subsidies. It will be a big hit!
The 5C will make the stock, margins and profits skyrocket. It’s going to make stockholders very happy. The C will ultimately stand for CASH!
You do understand how margins work, correct?
I was going to ask you the same thing.
Samdung will rush to market a Galaxie C5.
Very strange for Apple to package something in plastic. Looks more like a Chinese knock off starting to ramp up production.
Not that unusual or strange. There has been an iPhone with a plastic backside in every annual iPhone line-up, except the first year (the original iPhone had a mostly metal backside) and last year (the current lineup). During two of those years, the plastic-backed iPhone 3G and 3GS were the latest and greatest iPhone models.
The packaging, not the phone itself.
Oh… But there’s plenty of plastic used inside the iPhone 5 “package” to hold the iPhone and accessories (including a separate clear plastic “box” for the EarPods). And current iPod’s come in plastic boxes.
Fair point.
Not sure if it’s been discussed but didn’t Apple patent some color-changing plastic technology in the recent past? It would be pretty cool if you could change the color of your phone at will, or have it change color to indicate a change (incoming text, incoming vm, etc.).
Apple iPhone users rushed to cover their iPhones with plastic for protection which we called the accessories.
My first thought was “Is this really PLASTIC boxes from Apple or just some cleverly made fake low cost iPhone5 boxes from Red China?”… If these are indeed Apple’s mysterious low-cost iPhone 5, I will call them polycarbonate box instead of plastic.
my 2 cents…
I wonder… If they’ll sell this outright for $299 and $399 and fuck the carriers? And this is the reason for this product to live… Because Apple is so entrenched with the carriers that they’d need a different model to not infringe on their carrier agreements.
Maybe this product is the beginning of the end of subsidized phones.
T-Mobile was the beginning of the end of subsidized phones. This will be the continuation and acceleration of that trend.
The carriers richly deserve to die horribly.
Looks like a butter dish lid to me.
This could be the best way of decontenting the iPhone. If you take away construction material features without totally removing things like cameras and other sensors you don’t damage the experience nearly as much.
Otherwise to lower the price you’d have remove critical components like cameras and gyros and the parts of the OS and the apps that rely on them would be useless.
where was I when “decontenting” became a word?
at the same watering hole as when “incentivise” and “disintermediate” were violating the Queen’s English
yeah, it was last January, the winter of our decontent.
As Helena would say: “In this bright radiance and collateral ‘luminosity’ must I be comforted.”
All’s well that ends well
mine was “bisourcing,” Steinbeck via Shakespeare.
Language is living. Probably time to deal with it.
you mean probable linguitivity?
No. That would probably have to be linguavacity. Linguivity if we were to coin it today would probably mean that English is is on a scale from most difficult to speak to most easily spoken.
heh. okay, man.
mmmmmmm yeah. Of course
C for camera
Highlighting improved camera functions.
It’s possible that these are the plastic base to a clear plastic casing (similar to the way the iPods were cased for years. The lower cost phones (in multiple colors) would be perfect to display this way on store shelves.
“C” is for COMPOSITE – this is the plastic like material everyone has been saying the new less expensive phone’s case is made of, it’s been written 100’s of times… short term memory loss out there?
C for Classic.
that photo is fake as pamela andersons breasts!
What?!!!! Say it aim’t so!!!!
These are not the packages, these are the back of the new cheap iPhones. Yes they may be a little thick, but the battery life is a month and a half. /s