Let’s just face, iPhone 5C is not as affordable as expected, especially on Chinese shores. The handset was aimed at emerging markets to gain market share. It seems that things turned out otherwise. Apple priced the colorful iPhone 5C for a RMB 4,488, which is almost equal to $730. That’s even higher than the price of the iPhone 5S in the US (and many global markets) that is $649 off-contract, even its price in China is 5,288 yuan (almost $860) so users have to pitch in around $130 to get the upgraded iPhone 5S.
A new rumor emerged from CTechCN, the trustworthy source who has been correct several times about iPhone-related rumors, suggests that Apple has reduced the production orders of iPhone 5C from 300,000 to 150,000 per day. This is a drop of a whopping 50 percent that suggests that the sales are not close to what the Cupertino giant expected it to be.
It also appears that the demand of the iPhone 5C in China’s grey market is not as high as expected. As a result, many retailers are selling the handset way below the official price of 4,488. According to checks done by multiple local blogs in China, customers can get iPhone 5C for 3,000-3,300 yuan, which should have been the official price of the handset. Some sources mention that it’s also available for around 2,600 yuan.
Even though Apple posted a record-breaking sales of around 9M iPhones in the opening weekend. Our wild guess is that iPhone 5S is the more popular one between the two. Apple is expected to announce its quarterly call on October 28th where the company will also announce the number of iPhone 5s/5C sold in the quarter. We’ll find out if iPhone 5C is as popular as Apple thought it would be.
Source: CTechCn, Unwired View
Filed Under: Apple, Apple iPhone