Many didn’t buy the statement that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) may face a fierce market response towards the iPhone 5C when the company first introduced it back in September this year. Apparently, two months since launch, the sales figures of iPhone 5C are not showing any signs of redemption for Apple. And, that could be one of the prime reasons, Foxconn, the largest of the iPhone manufacturers, has decided to cease the production of a low-cost iPhone 5C, claims the Taiwanese publication DigiTimes.
However, the decision to suspend the iPhone 5C production is not going to affect Foxconn’s rapport with Apple as they were responsible for only 30% of the total iPhone 5C production. While the remaining 70% is being handled by Apple’s other production partner Pegatron Technology.
The report didn’t reveal the name but cited an unnamed industry source. This has resulted in a debate over Apple’s decision to introduce the iPhone 5C without any significant difference in price, specification and performance between the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C. According to the Boston-based Localytics, the iPhone 5S was 3.5 times more popular than iPhone 5C in its first week of availability across the U.S. Besides the Consumer Intelligence Research Partner claimed to AllThingsD that the iPhone 5S accounted for 64% of all new iPhone sales while the iPhone 5C failed by attracting just 27% of new iPhone users.
The gap in sales clearly states how Apple has been struggling with the iPhone 5C since launch. In fact despite of the failed defence by Tim Cook, the iPhone 5C sales are showing no signs of improvement when it comes to sales figures.
Apple never accepted the fact that the iPhone 5C is originally developed to crack the jinx amongst developing countries, especially in Asia. But a recent report from Gartner has disappointed Apple and has claimed that the iPhone 5C is too highly priced for India – the second largest mobile country by number of subscribers. The biggest reason behind such a failure is the price difference between the iPhone 5C and the iPhone 5S, and the self-establishment of Sales and Support centers by Samsung – an arch-rival of Apple.
In spite of being the second largest mobile country by subscribers, Apple is yet to venture into the Indian market directly and deals via Resellers for all of its Sales and Support activities, which is resulting in hesitation among people to pay a premium price and remain on the mercy of resellers who are able to handle only level 1 support. And, it does make sense.
The worldwide sales of mobile phones are expected to touch 1.8 billion in 2013 and all major mobile vendors, including Samsung, Lenovo, Huawei and LG, are focused on Smartphones, contributing maximum to the sales. However, Apple’s disappointing performance, which continued in Q3 2013, is a serious concern and the iPhone maker must strategize the company’s price policies in the right direction to secure a sizeable share of the largest Smartphone markets – China and India.
