Apple doesn’t break down its iPhone sales figures, so we don’t know for sure that the iPhone 5c sold poorly, but certainly everything we do know seems to point in that direction – from early sales estimates through analytics and consumer surveys to Apple switching production from the 5c to the 5s,” Ben Lovejoy writes for 9to5Mac.
“None of this necessarily means that the 5c was a complete failure, of course: record-breaking iPhone sales right from the outset could mean that the plastic phone did ok, it’s simply that the 5s sold far better than expected,” Lovejoy writes. “It could also be that it was the extra sales gained from the 5c that helped break those records.”
“But I suspect not. While the brightly-colored 5c was not without its fans, it was the iPhone 5s with its Touch ID sensor and gold colored model that got all the attention, and I don’t think Tumblr advertising is going to change that,” Lovejoy writes. “So my bet is we will again see a trend away from colorful plastic iPhones.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related article:
If Apple’s iPhone 5c is struggling, is it because it’s ‘unapologetically plastic?’ – February 20, 2014
Fate of Apple’s iPhone 5c in question – January 29, 2014
Cook tacitly admits Apple blew it with iPhone 5c – January 28, 2014
Was iPhone 5c the cause of Apple’s woes? – January 28, 2014
Why would anyone buy an iPhone 5c instead of an iPhone 5s? – September 10, 2013
I don’t have any real information, but I think the middle iPad Airport model with wifi is a total failure, selling far less than the top LTE model. They really have no choice but to kill it.
And Samsung should stop making all but a couple of its 500 models of phones because the 5s outsells all of them.
According to his logic I guess he must have asked a similar question when the iPhone 5 came out. “Will Apple abandon metal after the failure of the iPhone 4S?” Why do these idiots keep claiming failure when the 5C sold more than the 4S when it was #2?
And the 64-bit vs 32-bit never came up in his thinking. The iPhone 5s also had better low light photos. Both of these were stronger reasons for why I own and upgraded to a iPhone 5s from my older iPhone 4.
Very clueless about why people own the more evolved iPhones.
Besides, this move will ensure that Apple will sell more flagship smartphones further, too. Plastic-cover iPhone will not go.
No.
Utilising a plastic case means that automated milling machines are freed up to concentrate solely on the flagship iPhone. Plastic cases will be used on the second tier iPhone. Later this year, I expect to see Apple launch a metal cased iPhone 6, with a plastic cased iPhone 5SC as the second tier and a plastic cased 5C as the third tier.
It’s absurd to still suggest that the 5C might be a failure when Tim Cook has recently explained that it has sold better than it’s predecessors and has outsold almost every other smartphone too.
Exactly. If all Apple had was the 5c at the sales figures it is now, it would be the #2 smartphone in the market. How is that a failure?
That’s considering only half of the equation. Efficiently building what the customer doesn’t want = failure. Apple clearly miscalculated. I personally don’t think the external hardware material and design of the 5C are the sales-limiting issues as much as it was the pricing, juvenile colors, and zero feature/function improvement to stimulate new buyer interest. Sales of 5C models would also be dramatically improved if the antiquated 4S models were sold only in emerging markets, where obsolete tech is still valued as something besides a “loss leader” to get warm bodies into the store.
You’re clearly wrong in stating that the 5c was not wanted. I see lots of them around, particularly among teenagers. I agree the color choices are not great — different colors might create a bit more excitement. I also don’t think Apple needs as many colors, because the vast majority of people use a case anyway.
If Apple re-prices the 5c to be significantly less than the 5s once the 6 comes out, then it likely will sell more units. However, Apple won’t hurt its profit margin just to sell more units; Apple understands that volume and sales numbers do not equate to success.
I agree, except I’m still hoping Apple will continue iPhone 5s with metal frame and the molding machine will start molding liquid metal frames for iPhone 6.
Since they already have the plastic production line churning out millions of plastic iPhones, the best thing to do, apart from dumping them into the nearest landfill is to sell it for $250 so that early adopters in China, India, Russia and Brazil can be folded into the Apple ecosystem rather than forego an opportunity to crack the BRIC market and see Samsung vacuum up consumers in nascent markets.
First, Apple adjusts production based on demand. Apple keeps a tight supply line and there are not millions of iPhone 5c units waiting to be dumped in a landfill. I believe that you are thinking about Microsoft Surface tablets.
I do not believe that Apple benefits all that much from selling old technology like the iPhone 4s. So, I agree with the idea of reducing the price of the iPhone 5c to strategically target international markets. Apple wants/needs consumers to stay close to the cutting edge of hardware technology so that they more quickly adopt newer iOS and app releases.
Apple already sells in those emerging markets, but it will not compromise on profits just to gain market share. Market share does little good if you don’t make any money.
It’ll go the way of the Apple iPod Hi-FI… Quietly.
Remember this?…
I had one if those. Worked great but heavy as hell. Gave it away to relatives a few years ago. I believe it still works.
I’ve had iPhones since the first day on June 29, 2007 (and it still works fine today as an iPod touch!) and bought 2 5c’s – people make light of the price diff – but $100 is $100, and if you’re buying multiple devices in a family – it adds up! I love the 5c’s plastic – I don’t like cases on my iPhones & mine has held up great & still looks brand new – I’ve been as satisfied with the 5c as any previous ones I’ve had (original, 3GS, 4, 4S & 5) couldn’t be happier & hope a version lives on!
The 5c is a success. Stupid, idiotic article. Why even post this drivel?
Not released in black to protect flagship 5s sales.
They could increase the numbers just by putting “business” phone colour options on the menu.
Define failure – c/w Windows sales at low margins.
You mean brown. Zune tried that for business.
Considering there isn’t a black 5s (it’s space gray), your comment has very little value.
The only failure of the 5C is its pricing that over lapses into the 5S price. The 5S is a far superior device so why would you by the 5C. Apple thought its customers were so loyal that it tried to pass one by them.
The bigger story of 2014 is not the iPhone 6 and the second phone, rather what and how will Apple handle the iPhone 4/4S, 5C and 5S along with a new phone or phones.
If Apple doesn’t learn anything from this experience and repeats their pricing snafu, it will show the market weakness and confusion on Apple’s part and take away attention from any new device it introduces and cause its stock to fall.
I think Apple has done just fine with the 5c. It expected to sell more 5c’s than it has, but fewer 5s’s than it has, so it made adjustments to the supply chain.
The bottom line is Apple has sold millions more iPhones this year than last. That’s success, no matter the mix of 5c/5s.
I really think Apple should consider keeping the C model along with its plastic back but make the screen bigger. That way they can maintain the message that the current size is the most ideal and reserve it for the flagship model, while at the same time providing for those who want a bigger screen, sacrificing a flagship feature or two; the very people who might otherwise turn to Samsung who only offer plastic any way. That said I hardly think the 5C was a flop just because the 5S outsold it, surely that’s exactly what Apple wants.
If it makes calls and receives calls without being plugged in – it’s a cell phone. People who have real lives don’t know or care what it’s made of – or who made it!
Simple it’s just a safe uninspiring and pretty heavy phone, good but hardly a must have. That was partly by design so that would not take sales away from the 5S a logical decision but they didn’t hit the right spot. Hopefully if the 6 is a leap forward they will have more scope to get the 5c replacement right and more appealing be it in style and/or price.
Don’t know, don’t care, since I wouldn’t buy anything except the best Apple has to offer. Whatever happened to liquid metal, and why didn’t Apple use it instead of the cheaper polycarbonate plastic they ended up applying? Something tells me, the 5C will be the last cheap plastic iPhone ever made.
LiquidMetal is very expensive, which goes against using it for a more inexpensive iPhone.
“iPhone 5c failure”
“iPhone 5c failure”
“iPhone 5c failure”
“iPhone 5c failure”
“iPhone 5c failure”
“iPhone 5c failure”
“iPhone 5c failure”
“Why doesn’t anybody believe me, dammit?!”
“iPhone 5c failure!”
“iPhone 5c failure!”
“iPhone 5c failure!”
“iPhone 5c failure!”
“iPhone 5c failure!”
“iPhone 5c failure!”
“iPhone 5c failure!!!” 👿
If the iPhone 5c had not been independently promoted as a second ‘NEW’ phone, but simply presented, as before, as the previous year’s iPhone bumped down to second tier but accompanied by a modest change in the form of coloured plastic housings, hysteria over sales performance would have seemed stupid. The second tier iPhone always sells less than the flagship.
People are stupid idiots by default, and they only become clever once they detach themselves from the crowd they fancy belonging to. My father told me that. It seems every age has its rabble-rousers and Pavlovian followers.
Diversity rules, and I can’t imagine everyone breaking free of the herd instincts, learning to think independently. From my personal bizarro perceptions, I feel like it took me a few lives worth of learning to get to the point where I became determined to think for myself and get on the path to becoming my best self.
As such, I can’t judge younger spirits for simply being younger.
At the moment, in my personal growing up process, I put the division line at people being kind and caring of others. When people aren’t, I get concerned. When they go psychopathic in behavior, whatever I interpret that to mean, then I get in their business. For whatever reason, I’m a catalyst for change either passively or actively. /woowoo
Leaping back out of the abstract: When pundits are spewing in the face of facts, that’s ridiculous. I find it well worth pointing out that it’s ridiculous if only to help other people to understand that facts are far more useful and important than blowhardiness, whatever its source or motivation.
Oh and, I like your father!
I appreciate your saying that, Derek. I take after him, in so many ways. He also said, never trust a man, Janey. Make him trust you.
(I’ll still call you Hannah) 😉 I trust you.
Apple could start with a decent spectrum of shades – matching the iPod range for example – and include stock favorites like silver and black.
“Apple doesn’t break down its iPhone sales figures, so we don’t know for sure that the iPhone 5c sold poorly, but certainly everything we do know seems to point in that direction”
Then you don’t know much, do you, moron? I guess you missed where Tim Cook confirmed that the 5c had more sales than the 4S did the previous year? Because that’s the niche 5c fits into: not a new phone, but the year-old slot.
I’ve had it with this. The media, including the Apple media, have decided that the 5c is a failure, and no evidence will convince them otherwise. They’ve just decided that it’s true, and they’re going to talk about it as if it’s true.
Usually, you could count on MDN to skewer these stupid memes in their takes, but MDN itself seems to have a bug up its ass about the 5c, so I don’t expect any debunking from them any time soon.
——RM