Despite the speculation surrounding the next iPhone launch and a possible cheaper version, there is little discussion about the iPhone 5c and what Apple might have learned from it.
I mentioned this recently on my blog. In particular;
The sales of the iPhone 5c seems to have improved later in the product cycle. That is, the ratio of iPhone 5c as a percentage of total iPhone sales has risen. I have also anecdotally observed this in the super-subsidized Japanese market. Hence I suspect that the recent rise in popularity of the iPhone 5c is not directly related to price. It is possible that some consumers simply want a product that displays their individuality, like a fashion item.
A recent comScore survey supports this idea.
We see the iPhone 5c being popular among teenagers and young adults. They are particular popular among women in this age group. This supports the idea of the iPhone 5c being popular among fashion conscious groups. This is definitely a demographic that Apple would be interested in targeting.
Also, comScore mentions that there were 15 million iPhone 5s users in the USA compared to 6.4 million iPhone 5c users. These is a large difference, but the iPhone 5c is still undoubtedly a very popular phone.
This suggests that Apple would continue to carry an iPhone 5c-ish product line. In fact, it is not unreasonable to predict that, instead of using last-year’s technology in their plastic-adorned products, Apple could decide to use the same flagship technology.
Since I have absolutely no inside information, I can only say that this is a possibility. It will be however interesting to see what Apple does with the iPhone 5c.
Naofumi Kagami 