Apple is planning to discontinue its controversial iPhone 5C device at the September 9 launch of this year’s new flagship smartphones, reports 9to5 Mac’s Mark Gurman. Just to walk you down the memory lane, iPhone 5C was a 4-inch variant of the bigger 5S with stripped down specs and a lower price-tag.
The phone faced a bit of controversy a few weeks into its launch because of its believed-to-be underwhelming sales numbers and ageing feature set.
The 5C, built on top of an Apple A6 chipset introduced with the iPhone 5 in 2012 with other older specs, is still available in the market though. Apple, sources say, will retain the iPhone 5S for people who prefer smaller 4-inch smartphones as opposed to the larger variants of its iPhones. This could be expected with a steep price drop and users could get the older phone for almost $100 less than what it’s worth today.
There is also a possibility that the 5C could be retained in some markets like in developing countries just like the iPhone 4 was available in select regions after it was discontinued in the US. But considering that the 5C failed to attract any audience whatsoever, that is also highly unlikely.
The iPhone 6C is also not going to be showing up on stage at the September 9 launch event of the iPhones 6S and 6S Plus, according to sources. While the Cupertino is said to be working on the smaller variant of this year’s flagship models with the capabilities of last year’s iPhone 6, sources say that the device is not ready to be shipped yet.
There have also been rumours that Apple has prototyped a device with a 3.5-inch display (same size as that of the original iPhone) but it seems unlikely that this device will be launched anytime in the near future.
