Lagging iPhone 5c sales might be costing Apple the grand China Mobile bargain

Apple's iPhone 5c might be the roadblock in front of the deal with China Mobile, that will give Cupertino access to 750 million subscribers, and expected sales of 100 million 4G smartphones going forward. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo from KGI Securities estimates that sales of the midrange iPhone 5c are lagging estimates, which had given China Mobile an ace in the hand to negotiate better subsidy deals with Apple, that's why a deal announcement is dragging for so long.

China Mobile was expected to announce the official arrival of the iPhone 5s on its network this week, but it reneged in the last minute, saying that there's no news coming out. "We believe that weak sales of iPhone 5C may trigger a re-negotiation of the Apple-China Mobile partnership," notes the analyst. "However, the indications are that the deal is nearing an end. While recent market speculation calls for the deal to boost 1Q14 iPhone shipments to 45-50mn units, we think this is overly optimistic." Overall, it seems that China Mobile has found a weak spot in Apple with the iPhone 5c shipments, and is exploiting it to the max.

source: AppleInsider

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posted on 20 Dec 2013, 09:18 1

1. ArtSim98 (Posts: 3535; Member since: 21 Dec 2012)

Apple has to do things differently next year. Anyway I wouldn't buy their products lol. Well of course if they would be far superior to others, but as of now we are far of that situation.

posted on 20 Dec 2013, 10:08 4

2. Droid_X_Doug (Posts: 5993; Member since: 22 Dec 2010)

Sounds like the iP5C stands for crappy sales in addition to cheap. No wonder China Mobile is holding off signing - they don't want to be stuck with dog sh*t any more than other carriers.

posted on 20 Dec 2013, 10:54 1

3. Lycan155 (Posts: 254; Member since: 24 Nov 2013)

The iphone 5c isnt that bad actually it is beautiful and fluid but maybe apple could have tweaked the a little bit ?

posted on 20 Dec 2013, 11:53 4

4. tedkord (Posts: 13785; Member since: 17 Jun 2009)

Maybe Apple could have priced it competitively.

posted on 20 Dec 2013, 12:03 3

5. frustyak (Posts: 222; Member since: 08 Mar 2010)

There's nothing wrong with the 5c- it's a fine piece of hardware, my wife has one and she loves it. The problem is that Apple released both the 5s and the 5c simultaneously, and most people preferred to pony up the extra hundred bucks for the 5s. That's what I did. The 5c's main competition in the marketplace is the 5s, not anything running Android.

posted on 20 Dec 2013, 12:26 1

6. Droid_X_Doug (Posts: 5993; Member since: 22 Dec 2010)

Ummm. The 5Cs competition is the non-C 5. Only problem is the dwindling supply of non-C iP5 product.

I wonder if Apple is going to do a repeat with iP6? As in release an iP6C that the existing supply of iP5S will in turn compete with?

posted on 20 Dec 2013, 14:31 1

7. frustyak (Posts: 222; Member since: 08 Mar 2010)

Disagree. People that are buying them now aren't thinking to themselves "should I get a 5 or a 5c?", they're deciding between the 5c and the 5s. The 5 isn't keeping people from buying the 5c, it's the 5s.

posted on 20 Dec 2013, 19:21

8. dorianb (Posts: 612; Member since: 24 Oct 2012)

Check the price of a 5 vs a 5C on Craigslist & see which one you'd buy.

There ARE people out there like that.

posted on 21 Dec 2013, 11:37

9. Ikechukwu (Posts: 203; Member since: 03 Oct 2011)

nah, checked the apple store some days ago and was dissappointed by the devices there. 5S, 5C and those punny iPads. Maybe it was just the iOS7 slow animations but something felt strangely slow. But they all worked well tho