back to article Great Fall of China: iPhone 5C sales lag as blinged-up 5S sells out

Apple has failed to conquer the Chinese market with the iPhone 5C, its (slightly) cheaper and more garishly coloured release. Despite the gold version of the iPhone 5S selling out across the massive nation, Chinese consumers have not warmed to the other versions of the flagship phone and appear to have entirely rejected the 5C …

COMMENTS

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  1. JeffyPoooh

    Told ya so...

    S = Social

    C = Cheap

    I supposed it's not a bad problem to have, as problems go.

    1. theblackhand
      Coat

      Re: Told ya so...

      It's not a bad problem as long as you've only made a handful of the "C = Cheap" phones and lots of the "S = Social" phones.

      Otherwise somebody hasn't done a great job of allocating resource production.

      That's my coat with the copy of Dune II in the pocket....

      1. JeffyPoooh
        Pint

        Re: Told ya so...

        It's amazing that, with all the Apple executives flying back and forth to Asia, they would have noticed this upmarket-reaching characteristic of the admittedly-stereotypical (but ~75% true) consumer in Asia.

        If Apollo 13 was a "successful failure" then this marketing boondoggle is a "failed success".

    2. N13L5

      Re: Told ya so...

      The 5C looks more cheesy than any other phone in memeory. Even those plastic bar Windphones from Nokia looked better.

      Not to mention that several Chines companies make rather elegant looking Smartphones with high quality materials.

      Trying too hard to keep a distance between the 5S and the 5C, but not nearly enough of a distance in price, this shouldn't surprise anybody at Apple.

  2. James Chaldecott

    "Tyrant King"

    Amusingly, Bing goes for "fruit powder" as well, but prefers "local despot" to "tyrant".

    http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.aspx?from=&to=en&a=http%3A%2F%2Ftech.qq.com%2Fa%2F20130921%2F000478.htm

    "Local Tyrant Gold" iPhone, anyone?

  3. stefn

    Horrors! Apple Doomed!

    Apple sells a ton of phones and the high priced ones go first, in a market that pundits says can't pony up the cash. How very patronizing of them.

  4. Tom 35

    5C ads

    I walked past one of the Toronto Apple stores on Saturday (Fairview Mall) they had Giant 5C ads in the Window, and I've been fast forwarding through 5C ads on TV all weekend as well. Apple is trying to push them in Canada. Maybe they hope we will think the C stands for Canada not Crappy.

    1. Tom 35

      Re: 5C ads

      For the down voter, you can go watch the same ad, about 7-8 times.

      http://youtu.be/p8IAkbWJNfY

    2. Rukario

      Re: 5C ads

      "For the colorful" - I presume those ads were from US television stations then? But the rest of the ad is hideous, it just screams "cheap molten plastic".

  5. Shagbag

    Comparing the non-£ differences between the 5S and the 5C I came across this beauty:

    "Backside illumination sensor"

    It sense when someone is mooning you. LMAO.

  6. nanchatte

    I love how this *long* series of articles is called Peak Apple…

    >>Either that or it is a fruitless attempt [sic.] at the "Out of Stock" Jedi Mind Trick that doesn't work anymore.

    Erm, but your spelling of attempt is actually correct. O_o :-)

  7. SuccessCase

    Peak Hamill

    Jasper Hamill continues his Peak Apple claims against the facts. Weren't The Register claiming Peak Apple for the last launch? Funny the figures are up AGAIN:

    http://www.asymco.com/2013/09/23/iphones-5c-and-5s-launch-performance-illustrated/

    Also not sure how this fits with The Registers ongoing wholly unsubstantiated claim Apple are restricting supply to make it appear their handsets are more popular than they are. Apple have obviously had substantially more handsets ready to ship at every launch and yet again have sold out in record time.

  8. Syntax Error

    Bling is the colour

    I think the 5C is for the "ladies market" but in China like many asian countries the girls prefer bling.

  9. Rukario

    Fruit Powder

    Apple flavoured Kool-Aid? (Or rather Flavor-Aid?)

  10. Frankee Llonnygog

    So long as we are quoting articles via Google Translate ...

    here's some of the Reg article after a few translations:

    Apple has surpassed the Chinese market launch color iPhone5C cheaper and more open (a bit).

    According to local media, although gold version through major national sales iPhone5S, Chinese consumers do not have boot version of the phone seems to be completely excluded the main 5C.

    "Not only in China, the world's gold version is basically working," said Foreign Ministry spokesman telecom company China Unicom Xinhua

    1. Rukario
      Coffee/keyboard

      Re: So long as we are quoting articles via Google Translate ...

      "Simulating the true styles and making carefully." - This makes www.engrish.com seem mild in comparison.

      What's worse is that anime translations seem to be going that route also, with speech-to-text run through something like Google Translate. Imagine when "okasan" gets picked up as "kuso".

    2. poopypants

      Re: So long as we are quoting articles via Google Translate ...

      I like Google, but let's face it - Google Translate has always been shit*.

      *Not the shit, meaning good, just shit, meaning execrable.

  11. amanfromearth

    I predict

    5c price cut in time for Christmas.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Find a way to bash, any way to bash at all....

    I like the 5C phones. I can afford a 32GB model now where the 5s would be like $399 for 32GB including the Apple Care. $100 off works for me. From looking at the tear down, the plastic back is metal lined/reinforced, no? I was looking at the HTC One as well, supposed to be all metal, whoops, upon closer inspection it has a poly frame an a metal back panel. Oh well.

  13. This post has been deleted by its author

  14. CmdrX3

    How can the gold iPhones sell like hotcakes

    There was barely any out there to start with. Plenty of space grey and some silver but no gold.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Gold coloured stuff always looks cheap and nasty to me to be honest.

    Is the colour now going to be the equivalent of the nano shape change each year just to show the other guy/gal on the train that you have the latest model and they don't...?

    Bit sad really when a new colour becomes the major selling factor for a new device...

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