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Apple’s colourful plastic smart phone doesn’t appear to be as popular as its fingerprint-scanning big brother, as new research suggests the iPhone 5S is outselling the 5C two to one.
64 per cent of all iPhone sales in September were people snapping up the high-end iPhone 5S, according to figures from CIRP, published on AllthingsD.
That’s compared to just 27 per cent for the iPhone 5C, with the cheaper iPhone 4S making up the remaining 9 per cent of all iPhone purchases last month.
The figures suggest that shoppers are opting for the high-flying 5S over its slightly cheaper rival.
In our review of the 5C we noted that the brightly-hued mobile wasn’t that much cheaper than the 5S, which — for a little extra cash — gets you a new 64-bit processor and a fingerprint scanner, used to unlock the phone and verify iTunes purchases.
Data from Localytics pegs the iPhone 5S as outselling the 5C by more than three-to-one, though not all analysts agree — KGI’s numbers (which are based on the number of phones Apple is building) say the figure may be closer to 50/50, or even tipping in the iPhone 5C’s favour, 9to5Mac reports.
All may not be lost for the plucky 5C in any case. As CIRP is quoted as saying in AllthingsD, “Over time, the lower-priced phones have tended to gain share versus the flagship phone.”
In other words, dedicated smart phone lovers will snap up the high-flying 5S straight out the gate, but the broader appeal of the colourful, marginally cheaper 5C may mean it won’t really take off for a while yet.
Which of Apple’s new iPhones do you prefer, or would you rather cradle a Samsung Galaxy S4? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.
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