9:23 pm ET
Sep 10, 2013


iPhone 5C Might Not Be Cheap Enough in China

    • My god , are people really this dense? Do you see BMW or MERCEDES make cars cheap just because there are cheapo Chinese and Korean cars? Apple is offering a more affordable Iphone but still high quality. Not everything needs to be cheap, because you cheap yourself out of business

    • Can't Chinese customers get subsidized phones like US purchasers?

    • Can't Chinese consumers get subsidized phones like US consumers?

    • Made in China products are cheap but low quality. I prefer South Korean made products.

    • Obviously Apple didnt want the 5c to compete at the low or even mid tier in China. It seems like a replacement for the 4s which was priced the same. That sold well in china. If 5c costs less to produce, apple will make more money.

      Of corse if apple had priced 5c at 300, everyone would be crying about margin. Apple sells premium priced devices. Always has. Anyone expecting it to change to take back market share for no profits has not been paying attention.

    • Chinese people buying Chinese products to be patriotic. If Americans did the same, China would be toast.

    • In Hong Kong, Apple is losing market share very rapidly (20% Y/Y last quarter), and the view on Apple is not positive. They are widely used by the Indonesian and Philippine maids. The wealthy and young use Samsung Galaxy S4 and Note phones.

      There seems to be an assumption that Apple phones are considered premium; that may be the view in the USA, but that is not the case in China, where a dual core phone with a small screen is considered 'cheap'.

    • Apple can stay expensive so long as they dont care about declining revenue and earnings. Six years ago they had an immense lead that allowed them to charge a premium. The lead is gone and competitors phones do basically the same for less.

      Without new products look for EPS to decline to $30 a share by this time next year and a continuing decline as there is less and less reason to pay a premium for their phones. Buybacks might mask it slightly, but they would be smart to save their money and wait for the stock to hit $300 so they can buyback more.

      Nothing against the product, it's a great phone, but if a phone that costs half or a third as much is ninety five percent as good...well you do the math.

    • I wonder how many people commenting here have tried entering Chinese characters on a 4 inch screen and then tried with a stylus on the note II? If Apple phones were closer in capabilities to Android phones they would do better. I can get a roughly equivalent (and better in many ways) phone like the Xiaomi 'red rice' much cheaper than an iPhone or spend the same amount and get a much better phone like the Note 3.

    • It's funny how some of the Chinese people are saying they are buying Chinese company phones to support them and be patriotic when Chinese people are making the iphones. If they don't buy iphones then Apple might get upset and move the production facility to another cheap Asian country to assemble them and then many Chinese workers will be out of a job.

    • Apple doesn't need to be CHEAP ENOUGH wrote:
      Uh hello? Mercedes and BMW do make cheap versions of their cars. It's called "C" class for Mercedes and the "1" series for BMW. That way wannabe's can still buy a high end branded vehicle to try and look cool at a more affordable price which compares to the prices of the fully loaded Toyota Camry or low end Avalon. So who is the dense one? I vote for you!

    • There is no point for Apple to go after market share if that actually would make less profit, as long as Apple can still hold onto the market share in high-end segment. Looking at pricing differential between 5S and 5C, it seems that Apple's whole focus is still concentrated on 5S, it just uses 5C to show what a great deal 5S is. Also, it is meaningless to measure market share on a total volume basis when there is no money. An be made on the bottom 80% of the volume. What's point for any company to own 80% market share but makes no money? Well, we do have a lot of those companies, Amazon, Zillow, Netflex, ...

    • $735 for this cheap plastic?

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