Before it was officially announced, rumors claimed that the iPhone 5c would be a major win for Apple. That’s because this phone was expected to be competitively priced so much so that it would be as a strong contender in emerging markets. China and India were cited as the two markets where iPhone 5c could perform very well. However when it was unveiled, all rumors about its price went out the window, particularly about price in emerging markets. In China, the iPhone 5c is barely any cheaper than the iPhone 5s, and that could be one of the reasons behind its disappointing performance.
Analyst Benedict Evans of Andreessen Horowitz points at a chart from Chinese analytics network Umeng, which shows iPhone traffic on its network. To establish a baseline, it indicates that after four months of the iPhone 5’s launch in China, it accounted for seven percent of the traffic on its network. Four months after the launch of both new iPhones last year, the iPhone 5s accounts for almost 12 percent of all traffic. The iPhone 5c doesn’t even come close, it only manages a meagre 2 percent.
It has actually been reported many times that iPhone 5c hasn’t quite performed the way Apple wanted it to. One of the major reasons behind this is believed to be consumer preference of the iPhone 5s. This has led to speculation that the company may axe iPhone 5c and not launch its successor, ultimately adding the phone to its list of flops.