Apple replaced the
iPhone 5 with the
iPhone 5c, the more colourful, polycarbonate body avatar of its last flagship phone, when it launched the new generation, the
iPhone 5s, last month.
While iPhone 5s and specifically its Gold variant are in short supply commanding a huge premium in the grey market, the iPhone 5c stocks are not moving as fast, it seems. A new report by Chinese website
C Technology (via
Unwired View) suggests that Apple is cutting iPhone 5c production in half from 300,000 units to 150,000 units per day, as the retail availability of the phone is plentiful, leading to fall in its grey market prices in China.
The report points out that the grey market price for the iPhone 5c in China is currently at the 3000 to 3300 Yuan ($489-539) point, while the phone is officially sold for 4448 Yuan ($726). The phones sold in the grey market are usually smuggled from the US, Europe and Hong Kong.
With the disappointment of the iPhone 5c not turning out to be the budget iPhone everyone was waiting for, specially the price sensitive Chinese market, it's possible that it is not selling as much as Apple expected it to sell. Or perhaps a majority of iPhone buyers want the iPhone 5s which boasts of better hardware, unique features like the Touch ID fingerprint sensor, slow motion video recording and an all metal premium design. It's also likely that Apple has produced enough to complete initial sales targets and is focusing on producing the iPhone 5s models.
Apple unveiled the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c on September 10. The iPhone 5c sports a brand new hard-coated polycarbonate casing but features almost the same internals as the iPhone 5, including the same A6 chip, 4-inch Retina display with a resolution of 640x1136 pixels and an 8-megapixel rear camera. However, it comes with a bigger battery, a better front-facing camera and enhanced 4G/ LTE support.
The
two iPhones will be available in the Indian market starting 1st November. No pricing has been revealed yet however.