Apple Announces iPhone 5C
by Anand Lal Shimpi on September 10, 2013 1:05 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Apple
- Mobile
- iPhone 5C
Apple just announced the iPhone 5C. 4-inch Retina Display, A6 SoC, single piece polycarbonate back, 8MP iSight camera and new front facing FaceTime HD camera with 1.9µm pixels. Internally there's a steel frame that doubles as the antenna structure. The 5C is available in 5 colors (blue, white, pink, yellow, green).
The iPhone 5C takes the place of the iPhone 5. Previously Apple would've moved the iPhone 5 down the price chain and replaced it at the high end. The all-metal iPhone 5 likely wouldn't scale well to lower costs, so Apple moved to a polycarbonate design for the 5C. The result is a device with comparable specs to the iPhone 5, but starting at $99.
The iPhone 5C will be available starting on September 20th.
Check out our full coverage of Apple's Town Hall event in our live blog.
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16 Comments
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danbob999 - Tuesday, September 10, 2013 - link
What about the no contract price?garadante - Tuesday, September 10, 2013 - link
If this contract price lines up with other contract price phones, this thing must be somewhere in the region of $400-600 for the 16 GB version. Which isn't cheap at all, and definitely in the range of some high end Android phones.andykins - Tuesday, September 10, 2013 - link
In the UK, the 16GB 5C has an off contract price for £469 which is 740 dollars or 592 dollars when you take out VAT.There's nothing cheap about the 5C. It's the price that the 4S got moved down to last year when the 5 was announced. It's just cheaper for Apple to produce than the 5 so they make even more profit.
tipoo - Tuesday, September 10, 2013 - link
I don't get it. The 5C just uglies up the guts inside the 5. The 5 looked great, this is ugly as sin, especially with that hole case. What does it add for the consumer? It just seems like cost cutting.kyuu - Tuesday, September 10, 2013 - link
Cost cutting is exactly what this is. Nothing to do with benefiting the customer.janderk - Tuesday, September 10, 2013 - link
Beside increasing margins on the $99 phone it forces people to buy the new 5S if they want a premium feel. A 5 at lower cost would have competed too much with the 5S.Problem of course is that people may now opt for a less expensive Android phone with a premium feel instead like a HTC One (mini) or a Moto X with wood finish.
reuthermonkey1 - Tuesday, September 10, 2013 - link
"A 5 at lower cost would have competed too much with the 5S."That tells me that I should stick with an iPhone5 if it's close enough to a 5S that Apple feels it's 'competition'.
Guspaz - Tuesday, September 10, 2013 - link
One might argue that paying less benefits the customer.kyuu - Tuesday, September 10, 2013 - link
Except they're paying the same price they would have for the regular iPhone 5 had Apple kept the same process they've been using since the original iPhone of cutting the price on the previous model when the new one comes out.Also, $100 on-contract is pretty pricey for a "budget" device.
steven75 - Tuesday, September 10, 2013 - link
That's some pretty twisted logic you have there.Do you also take into effect the future resale value of your phone when you buy one? My guess is no, as Apple wins that battle mightily.