Apple is believed to have cut Q4 orders for iPhone 5c

Apple Inc told manufacturer of its new iPhone 5c that it will cut orders of the smartphone for the final three months of the year, a source familiar with the supply chain situation said.

Pegatron Corp, a major manufacturer of Apple’s new phone, had 5c orders reduced by less than 20 percent, the source told Reuters on Wednesday, declining to be identified because the information is sensitive.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, Apple’s other manufacturer of the 5c, has had its orders for the same period reduced by a third, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The iPhone 5c (Review) and iPhone 5s (Review) were launched in September ahead of the year-end holiday season when sales tend to hit a peak. In the United States, the 5c is $100 cheaper than the premium 5s, which is retailer for $649 for the 16GB model. 

The cut in 5c orders will reinforce investor sentiment that the phone was overpriced and would not be well-received by consumers, some analysts say.

“This reflects failure in Apple’s pricing strategy, “said Bevan Yeh, a Taipei-based senior fund manager at Prudential Financial Securities Investments Trust. “The price differentiation between 5c and 5s is too small. It’s an iPhone 5 with plastic casing and isn’t worth the price.” 

Spokesmen at Pegatron and Hon Hai declined to comment, while Apple could not be immediately reached for comment.

In China, one of Apple’s most important markets according to Chief Executive Tim Cook, the 5c’s reception has been lukewarm. Some local bloggers say the price difference between the 5c and 5S is too narrow.

Apple said previously that sales for the 5s and 5c in the first three days of their launch in September totaled 9 million, and that demand for 5S exceeded initial supplies. I did not give separate figures for the 5c and 5s.

Prudential, which does not own Apple shares, forecasts assemblers will ship around 5c units in the final three months of this year and 10 million in the first three months of next year.

Some analysts caution against correlating the cuts to Apple’s supplier orders with poor sales, because of the complexity and opacity of the company’s supply chain.

“We’ve seen this several times. There are too many moving parts in the supply chain to draw any conclusion,” said Benedict Evans, who covers mobile and digital media at Enders Analysis, a research consultancy in London.

“We don’t know what other suppliers they use or what inventory they already have.”

iPhone 5s costs $191 to make, cheaper than iPhone 5: IHS

While the iPhone 5s includes of new features that set it apart from Apple’s previous model, the actual cost to make the phone hasn’t changes very much, according to a new study.

An IHS Inc. teardown of the new smartphone found that the components make up a 16-gigabyte iPhone 5s (Review) cost $190.70. Manufacturing costs add another $8, bringing the total production cost to $198.70.

In comparison of iPhone 5 that will be hit the market last year ago that costs up to $197 to make.

According to a Andrew Rassaweiler, the IHS director the cost of the benchmarking service has been noted the iPhone 5s includes the extra new features that gives extra functionality to this smartphone, such are 64-bit apps processor and a finger-print identification sensor without any kind of significant jump in the costs of this iPhone.

Also the research firm also dissected a 16-gigabyte iPhone 5c (Review), a cheaper version of the 5s, and put its total production cost at $173.45, including all the manufacturing costs that are $7.

In the last press interview, Rassweiler said the 5c is basically an iPhone 5 wrapped in plastic, nothing that it has basically the same features, but benefits from typical components price drops, along with its cheaper plastic enclose.

The starting price of iPhone 5c is $549, but it will sell for $99 with a two year wireless contract. It’s Apple’s least-expensive iPhone ever and is an effort to boost sales in China and other areas where people don’t have as much money to expend on new gadgets as they do in the U.S. and Europe. But critics have said that the phone is still too expensive to sell well in emerging markets.

IHS said that while I cost substantially less to produce an iPhone 5c than it did an iPhone 5, those costs are still on the high side.

It added that in order to merit the low-end smartphone pricing of $400 that many industry observers had expected while maintaining typical Apple profit margins the company would need to reduce its 5c production to about $130.

Monday Apple reported that it sold 9 million of the two new models since their launch on Friday – its strongest iPhone launch ever – and that demand was exceeding supply.

In midday trading, shares of the Cupertino, Calif., company slipped $5.98 to $483.12.

iPhone 5C packaging, documentation pictured

iPhone 5C or the low-priced iPhone has been the subject of different leaks in the past. Continuing with the series of leaks that have hit the internet before Apple’s whispered September 10 iPhone event, new pictures of Apple’s alleged 5C iPhone 5C have surfaced online.

We had seen alleged pictures of plastic of plastic retail packaging features white plastic boxes marked ‘iPhone 5C’ with the Apple logo, in July. This time, the iPhone 5C is present inside the same iPod touch-like box complete with a transparent plastic lid.

The iPhone 5C pictured inside the box, matches with the previously leaked images of the phone, and features iOS 7 with the wallpaper of the phone matching the color of its Red (Pinkish Red) back casing. The site also offers similar pictures of the White, Yellow and Blue iPhones.

The pictures, first posted on iapps.im, also ‘confirm’ that the front panel of the iPhone 5C would be Black. In addition to this low quality photo, purported images featuring some documentation that comes with the iPhone 5C and the phone’s SIM-eject tool have also appeared on Chinese micro blog Weibo. The pictures were spotted by 9 to 5Mac.

The documentation captured in the pictures features the same Black front panel that we’ve seen in previous leaks and shows the iPhone 5C running iOS 7. It also suggests a White wallpaper, colour matched with the phone’s White back. The website notes that the documentation is semi-oval shaped, to fit the semi-oval plastic box revealed in other images. 

The low-cost iPhone or iPhone 5C has leaked several times alleged pictures of the iPhone 5C have revealed a plastic polycarbonate body back panel in White, Blue, Red, Yellow and Green colors, a round camera lens and LED flash, Apple logo and iPhone branding. It’s expected to be powered by a dual-core CPU, and have a  4-inch screen, just like the iPhone 5, with a resolution of 640x1136 pixels. The iPhone 5C is rumored to have 1GB of RAM, and come in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB storage variants. It’s also likely to sport an 8-megapixel rear camera and 1.2 megapixel front camera and run iOS 7 complete with Siri which would be available in English, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Italian and Spanish.

A number of rumors including some y credible publications and journalists have confirmed September 10 as the most probable date for Apple hosting a special event to announce the ne iPhone(s). Apple has not sent any invitations o announced an event officially, yet though it typically sends out official invitations only a week before the actual event, so one can expect them any time.

A number of rumours including some by credible publications and journalists have confirmed September 10 as the most probable date for Apple hosting a special event to announce the new iPhone(s). Apple has not sent any invitations or announced an event officially, yet, though it typically sends out official invitations only a week before the actual event, so one can expect them any time.

Purported press image of iPhone 5C appears online

While the purported iPhone 5C, Apple's low-cost iPhone, has made several online appearances, including in some really high resolution pictures and videos that surfaced on the Internet, a website now claims to have published the official press shots of the phone.

Romania based publication, Mobilissimo.ro, claims that a Romanian retailer sent a couple of press shots of the iPhone 5C to the website.

The press photo features the White coloured variant of the iPhone 5C running iOS 7.The front panel is also in White unlike some previous leaks, while the back of the phone features the same plastic polycarbonate body panel that appeared in recent leaks, in glossy White, complete with a round camera lens and LED flash, Apple logo and iPhone branding.

The left-hand side of the phone features the same pill shaped volume rocker and mute keys that had appeared online, in a recent leak. These are also White in colour.

In addition to the press pictures, the site has also posted images of what the Romania-based dealer claims as iPhone 5C dummies placed in shop shelves till the actual phone arrives. The dummy features a White plastic power button. At the bottom of the dummy phone, there's a small hole for the second microphone, next to the 3.5mm headset jack port, two screw holes with the Lightning connector port at the centre, and four holes for the speaker towards bottom right. This is in line with the pictures that appeared recently on Sonny Dickson's website.

It's interesting to note that the low-cost iPhone has leaked several times but the pictures were of pre-production units and did not feature cut outs for the power and volume rocker keys.

Other alleged pictures of the iPhone 5C have revealed a plastic polycarbonate body back panel in White, Blue, Red, Yellow and Green colours. However, we've not heard much about the specifications of the phone till now.

Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 5C along with the iPhone 5S, the next generation iPhone, on September 10 at an event in San Francisco. It's worth pointing out that Apple has not sent any invitations or announced an event officially, yet, though it typically sends out official invitations only a week before the actual event.