Prior to the release of its two new iPhones, it was rumored almost every other day that the iPhone 5c is going to be Apple’s first cheap smartphone. Some even believed that it would cost around $300 off contract, which would have definitely made it a relatively cheap smartphone, given that the flagship iPhones have always been sold for a base price of $649 off contract, for the 16GB variant. That didn’t turn out to be true though, the iPhone 5c isn’t as cheap as it was thought to be. Perhaps Apple could go down this road in the future? Analyst Charlie Wolf of Needham & Company believes this would be an “insane idea.”
The entire premise on which the rumors of a cheap iPhone were based was that Apple would do this in order to capture more of the low-end smartphone market. To do that it would have to hit a hypothetical sweet spot with the price, which hovers around $300. Wolf believes not only such a move will have a bad affect on Apple’s profits, it would also do damage to the iPhone brand, which is commonly believed to be a bonafide high-end smartphone brand. Apple is expected to shake up the iPhone lineup in 2014, it is expected to release a smartphone with a larger display. So far rumors of yet another cheap iPhone have not surfaced, but who knows what 2014 has in store for us.
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