AppleInsider Staff
Apple on Tuesday released an 8GB version of its mid-tier iPhone 5c handset on UK carrier O2, bringing the plastic-backed smartphone into the sub-$100 price range in a possible bid to stave off flagging sales.
Update: The 8GB iPhone 5c has made its way to the UK Apple Store with a price of £429.
For now, the 8GB iPhone 5c is only showing up on wireless carrier O2's UK webpage with prices ranging from free to £409.99, or about $680. The unsubsidized price represents a savings of £100 ($166) off the 16GB model.
While the phone does not appear on the UK's Online Apple Store, or Apple's iPhone 5c informational webpage, it appears the only change made was a decrease in onboard storage.
As of this writing, Apple's current entry-level iPhone, the iPhone 4S, is still present on O2's website. Some industry watchers speculated the older generation device would be discontinued in favor of an 8GB iPhone 5c.
With the cheaper iPhone 5c version, Apple may be looking to kickstart what many perceive to be stagnating sales. Discussing quarterly numbers in January, CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that demand for the 5c was weaker than expected, with the lower-priced handset representing a smaller mix of overall iPhone sales. In total, Apple sold 51 million iPhones during the holiday quarter, a new record for the company but below market expectations of 55 million.
Tuesday's debut comes less than one day after a supposedly leaked internal email from O2 Germany first spurred rumors that an 8GB iPhone 5c would be released sometime this week. The lower capacity 5c has yet to make its way to the mobile operator's German website.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
Andrew Orr
62 Comments
This is quite a substantial price difference and might just be a trigger needed to jump off the sales. :)
Makes sense, should've been at this price point upon release. Finally priced at what it's worth, watch the sales sky rocket now.
Even for my needs (some songs, some apps and no videos), 8 GB is still very low. It's like always running on a reserve. I don't see a point of an iPhone (no less) with 8 GB memory unless you really don't want anything on it except for a few apps and some music (in which case, why buy an iPhone anyway)? For me, 8 GB doesn't much sense in 2014.
But that's me, I'm sure there are people out there who want an iPhone but don't want a lot on it. But I still don't understand why you'd pay so much and then not get enough space for anything worthwhile the power and capacity of an iPhone.
Even for my needs (some songs, some apps and no videos), 8 GB is still very low. It's like always running on a reserve. I don't see a point of an iPhone (no less) with 8 GB memory unless you really don't want anything on it except for a few apps and some music (in which case, why buy an iPhone anyway)? For me, 8 GB doesn't much sense in 2014.
But that's me, I'm sure there are people out there who want an iPhone but don't want a lot on it. But I still don't understand why you'd pay so much and then not get enough space for anything worthwhile the power and capacity of an iPhone.
Many people stream their media nowadays. I have very little use for local storage, other than 20 or so select apps. 8gb would do me fine.
I agree 8GB is way too low - in fact I question the logic of this product since without expandable memory, all this is really going to do is frustrate users over time and give many a poor experience of their first iPhone, probably driving them to a cheap android with a card slot next time. Let's be real here - you could fill 8GB in a hour or two just by being a bit trigger happy with the video function.