'iPhone 5C' Projected to Give Apple Huge Boost in China
While Apple has experienced tremendous growth in China over the past several years and the market is now responsible for approximately 15% of Apple's revenue each quarter, Apple's momentum has slowed there recently with the most recent quarter seeing a 14% decline in revenue in China year-over-year.
A Morgan Stanley analyst team led by Katy Huberty released a bullish new report yesterday suggesting, however, that Apple's rumored lower-cost "iPhone 5C" could spark a surge in consumer interest for Apple in China. According to a survey of 2,000 Chinese consumers in "Tier 1-2" cities, an iPhone 5C could lead to a 13-point smartphone market share boost for Apple in China, with a rumored China Mobile deal potentially adding another six points. Combined, those two scenarios could push Apple to a 36% share of the market in those cities, taking the lead from Samsung.
Apple could significantly disrupt the Chinese smartphone market by launching iPhone 5C. We asked respondents that are very likely to purchase smartphones in the next 12 months but did not choose the iPhone whether they would purchase a redesigned and lower-priced iPhone 5C, one of the “Mini” products from international brands, or a comparable smartphone from one of China’s domestic brands. The survey indicates Apple could gain 13 points of unit share with iPhone 5C. About half of that share gain would come from Samsung, while most other vendors lose some share.
According to the survey, the "sweet spot" for pricing on the iPhone 5C among Chinese consumers is around RMB 4000 ($486), significantly higher than Morgan Stanley's estimated $399 pricing for the device, suggesting that consumers there will generally be satisfied with the iPhone 5C as a mid-range device rather than Apple needing to compete at low-end price levels.
Morgan Stanley's results also show that two-thirds of potential iPhone 5C customers would be happy with a 3G device, as 4G networks have yet to see widespread deployment in many areas of China. The data suggests that Apple could boost profit margins and increase differentiation with the iPhone 5S by not supporting 4G LTE on the iPhone 5C, although the company's plans for the iPhone 5C in countries where 4G LTE is more prevalent could drive Apple to support the faster networks.
Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 5S at a media event on September 10, with the iPhone 5C most likely appearing at the same event.
Popular Stories
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple has stopped production of FineWoven accessories, according to the Apple leaker and prototype collector known as "Kosutami." In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Kosutami explained that Apple has stopped production of FineWoven accessories due to its poor durability. The company may move to another non-leather material for its premium accessories in the future. Kosutami has revealed...
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
The upcoming iOS 17.5 update for the iPhone includes only a few new user-facing features, but hidden code changes reveal some additional possibilities. Below, we have recapped everything new in the iOS 17.5 and iPadOS 17.5 beta so far. Web Distribution Starting with the second beta of iOS 17.5, eligible developers are able to distribute their iOS apps to iPhone users located in the EU...
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. The lack of ...
The lead developer of the multi-emulator app Provenance has told iMore that his team is working towards releasing the app on the App Store, but he did not provide a timeframe. Provenance is a frontend for many existing emulators, and it would allow iPhone and Apple TV users to emulate games released for a wide variety of classic game consoles, including the original PlayStation, SEGA Genesis,...
Top Rated Comments
Troll level: expert.
Oh and how about this?
You care enough to talk about it, which makes them money (ad impressions). If you truly don't care and want to send that message, then don't post on the thread.
iPhone 3G/3GS?
And prior to 2007 most of Apple's products were plastic. Are all those against Apple Culture/DNA/Premium-ness?