Apple Plans To Sell 75 Million Low-Cost iPhones Next Year: Analyst | TechTree.com

Apple Plans To Sell 75 Million Low-Cost iPhones Next Year: Analyst

Company could be looking to make forays into the budget segment.

 

Apple could be planning to sell around 75 million low-cost versions of the iPhone in the coming year as per a CNET report quoting analyst Gene Munster from think-tank Piper Jaffray. Munster also expects the new iPhone to cost $300 (approx Rs 16,200) for the non-subsidised version, although it is likely to cost a lot less when offered by the mobile operator with a contract. If indeed such a phone is launched, Apple would be in a position to capture the budget market where it had no presence since the first iPhone was launched.

The analyst further predicts that a low-cost iPhone variant would help Apple grab up to 11% of the low-end market in 2014; we are assuming that it is only the US market that is being referred to over here. However, he also cautioned that the device would also cannibalise the expensive iPhone 5, eating up 30% of its sales. This would effectively result in Apple's gross margins dipping from 38.6% in December 2012 to 36.6% in 2012.

Apple has been long rumoured to be planning to introduce such an iPhone variant near the middle of this year. While it does make perfect business sense for Apple to launch a cheaper iPhone, the original (unofficial) company policy so far seems to have been to have just a single device in the high-end segment, and this is what differentiates it from other companies. However, with Steve Jobs no longer there, new ideas have begun to get considered such as the introduction of the iPad mini — a smaller and lesser expensive variant of the iPad. A low-cost iPhone should therefore be a real possibility as it would certainly offer an alternative for those who wanted to buy an iPhone, but couldn't because of its high cost. India and possibly China could be such markets where the device could flourish more, although it is likely to be the mid-range market where this device will be placed in here, while the low-end segment will remain safely untouched.


TAGS: Mobile Phones, iPhone

 
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