Tomorrow, Apple “expands its iPhone strategy,” which is marketing speak for “There’s a new one, and it’s cheap.” Except it’s not really a new one, and it might not actually be that cheap.
Here’s what we know about the iPhone 5c’s internals: It’s supposedly an iPhone 5. I am hugely skeptical that this thing will actually have the internals of an iPhone 5, for reasons I’ll get into below. It’s a lot more likely that this will actually be an iPhone 4S.
Really, the big difference is that instead of a shiny metal case, you get a plastic case that comes in five different colors; yellow, blue, pink, white and green. Notably missing is black; apparently black is reserved for the main iPhone line, or maybe they just don’t want people to think it’s an iPhone 3GS. Besides, Apple’s getting all tacky on the iPhone line in other ways.
The big question is how much Apple is going to charge for this thing. Currently, if you want an iPhone, you’ll be paying a minimum of $650 for an iPhone 5, and for each generation you go back, you save the princely sum of… $100. Yes, an unlocked iPhone 4 is still $450, because Apple doesn’t make money off of ads like Google. Hence why I’m skeptical that the 5c will be the iPhone 5 in the smartphone equivalent of clothes from Forever 21; Apple probably wants to keep selling the iPhone 5, and will just blow up the iPhone 4 line altogether.
So, yeah, the 5c is just the new name for the 4S. This lines up with the rumors that, unsubsidized, the iPhone 5c will cost $400 to $500. That’s cheap enough that it can be subsidized by carriers, and Apple can still make money on it. Subsidized, expect this to cost $100.
As for whether Apple will drop anything exciting this week, no. But I’m sure its presentations in October, for the iPad, and November, for the Macs, will probably have something of interest.
(Image courtesy of renatomitra on Flickr)