Target Becomes Latest Retailer to Cut Price of iPhone 5c to $49.99

Friday October 11, 2013 7:32 AM PDT by Richard Padilla
iphone5c.jpgTarget will be cutting the price of the iPhone 5c down to $49.99 from $79.99 starting this Sunday, October 13, reports CNET. Customers who have a Target REDcard can save an additional five percent on the device upon purchase. The move follows a rapid string of recent price cuts for the lower-cost device, inclduing Best Buy and RadioShack knocking the price of the device down to $50 with a gift card while Walmart dropped its own pricing to $45 through the holidays.

Yesterday, it was reported that Apple is cutting iPhone 5c production from 300,000 units to 150,000 units per day, with the lower-cost iPhone 5c seeing significantly better availability compared to the high-end iPhone 5s. It is, however, unclear how much of the plentiful iPhone 5c supplies are due to weak demand and how much is due to Apple simply having met demand through more effective production.

Apple announced last month that the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c had sold a record nine million units during the launch weekend for both devices, but the company did not break down the sales distribution between the two models. However, a report from earlier this week did state that the iPhone 5c finished second in sales over the month of September at US carriers AT&T and Sprint, and finished within the top three in sales at all four major carriers, which suggests that the lower-cost iPhone is at least selling fairly well.

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outphase
63 months ago
All the people saying "LAST YEAR'S TECHNOLOGY" need to realize that they're not the target demographic. There are plenty of people who don't care about the latest and greatest. I would argue that there are more of those people than those on the cutting edge.
Rating: 5 Votes
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BaldiMac
63 months ago

These stories are just too funny. People don't want overly colorful phones, no matter what you tell me in your commercials.


How many people are you talking about? Because, obviously, some people do. :D
Rating: 3 Votes
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bbeagle
63 months ago

These stories are just too funny. People don't want overly colorful phones, no matter what you tell me in your commercials.


People don't want overly colorful phones WITH LAST YEAR'S TECHNOLOGY.

The iPhone 5c sales should be compared to the iPhone 4S sales after the iPhone 5 launch.
Rating: 3 Votes
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everything-i
63 months ago

All the people saying "LAST YEAR'S TECHNOLOGY" need to realize that they're not the target demographic. There are plenty of people who don't care about the latest and greatest. I would argue that there are more of those people than those on the cutting edge.


Well said, this is exactly how it is. The iPhone 5 spec is more than most will need and they go for the 5C because it feels better in the hand and its a bit cheaper.
Rating: 3 Votes
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satchmo
63 months ago
Having colour iPhones is not the issue.
I agree, the 'problem' is the provided colour choices.

Surely, a plastic piano black or space grey iPhone 5c would be popular among those who want to be a bit more understated.

People don't care about last year's technology. The people that buy these phones already know that. That they want are white, black, gray colored phones. Whoever's idea it was to make a neon green phone should be fired.

Rating: 2 Votes
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kunai
63 months ago
Jesus Christ, Apple. Lower the price of unlocked to $450 and you have an instant hit.

The $599 price for unlocked is absurd for a mostly year-old phone.
Rating: 2 Votes
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everything-i
63 months ago

These stories are just too funny. People don't want overly colorful phones, no matter what you tell me in your commercials.


Considering you say that people don't want these phones they seem to be selling a hell of a lot of them.:rolleyes:

Apple couldn't care less about these discounts as they get the same amount of money regardless. This is retailers attempting to undercut each other, nothing more.
Rating: 2 Votes
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Twimfy
63 months ago

The funny thing is I still haven't seen anyone, including my friends, that have one of these phones (referring to the 5C). Alot of them are still on the 4S and 5. And I don't blame them.


Yet in my circle of friends I see a lot of 5Cs and we all love them. Personal perspective means nothing.
Rating: 1 Votes
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IJ Reilly
63 months ago

@IJ Reilly

Yeah sure but the net result is the same wether you buy and 5(c/s) upfront or with contract. You'll end up with paying well above 500$ for the phone with just 100$ difference in between 5c and 5s.

In the days before the c&s became available I was considering my options:
- I needed atleast 32GB
- I'm not convinced with the 5s having "must have" features
- paying 699€ for last years tech didn't feel right either

Ended up with buying a slightly used 5 for just a bit shy of 500€, got another 32GB more storage :p
Than added a non-contract which at 9.95€/month gives me:
- 500 of either talk-minutes or messages
- "unlimited data" (will be throttled after the 1st 200MB)

At the end of every billing month I do have option to change that at the same cost to:
- 9ct/min or message
- 500MB high-speed data

Or I could just switch to a completly different plan (or even cancel it).


I think all you are really saying is that under a subsidized plan you should buy the most expensive phone available if you want to maximize the value of the subsidy. This is true, possibly, but you are still paying more upfront for the more expensive phone, so it's a choice. Also, in the U.S. as I pointed out, the difference is more than $100, with sales taxes being paid on the full value of the phone. So with many retailers currently offering the 5c for $49, the actual difference is now closer to $200.

How much more we are paying for the subsidy vs. outright purchase is difficult to calculate, since (if for no other reason) we can't compare the same plans with and without the subsidy. (Maybe at T-Mobile, but I haven't checked.)

As for "last year's tech," this is a consideration for only a minority of buyers (a very small one, I suspect). I've been carrying "last year's tech" in my pocket for several years in the form an iPhone 4 and don't feel diminished by it at all. At this point I am considering trading up the 5c because I happen to like it, and it will also cost less than a 5s.
Rating: 1 Votes
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IJ Reilly
63 months ago

How many people are you talking about? Because, obviously, some people do. :D


They aren't actual people. Possibly they are cyborgs, or visitors from another planet.
Rating: 1 Votes
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