According to a report from Taiwan"s Industrial and Commercial Times, Apple has elected to wind down production of the "low cost" iPhone 5c supplied by Wistron and Foxconn, by the middle of next year. The news follows a report from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo earlier this week which hinted that production of the iPhone 5c and the iPhone 4s would end later in 2015 after promotional plans.
While this may not seem like shocking news now that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are out and selling in droves, Apple has long stretched production of previous handsets to around two years, with the 4s still actively being sold or given away with a contract or PAYG subscription.
Originally thought of, but not promoted as such, the iPhone 5c was to be the "low cost" option for the 5 series of the iPhone, but the reception of the 5c was lukewarm to say the least. Apple was even forced to halt production of the handset altogether to meet the demand of the 5s, which outsold the 5c three to one in the UK.
With the iPhone 5s only costing an additional $99 in the US for the entry level model over the 5c, and BestBuy actually giving it away on a two year contract last year, it"s clear to see what went wrong with the supposed "cheaper" option, It wasn"t really that much cheaper at all.
Apple currently has the 5c listed on its site for $0 with a two year contract at AT&T, Sprint and Verizon, or for $450 sim free.
Source: MacRumors