Back when Apple hadn’t unveiled its two new iPhones, it was believed that the low-cost iPhone 5c might end up eating into the margins of the relatively expensive iPhone 5s, particularly in markets like India and China. This isn’t the case though, the iPhone 5c hasn’t performed as well as everyone believed it would in those markets primarily because its not as competitively priced as many thought it would be. There has already been a lot of talk about iPhone 5c sales being weak, and its expected to remain weak throughout the fourth quarter of this year. TrendForce estimates that the iPhone 5c will account for 24 percent of the total iPhones shipped during this quarter, whereas iPhone 5s sales are expected to account for almost 70 percent of all iPhone sales.
The firm’s recent research report estimates that Apple shipped 33.8 million units of the iPhone in Q3, 2013, with the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c making up for more than 50 percent of that combined. It also claims that Apple has adjusted the iPhone 5c’s Q4 shipments down by 11 million units, which seems plausible as there have already been a lot of rumors about Apple cutting down production of the iPhone 5c. TrendForce expects Apple to ship 46 million units of the iPhone in this quarter, resulting in a 2.2 percent year-over-year increase.