The Apple event is over. As expected, there were the Mac and Mavericks announcements. But there was no new Apple TV. And the iPad announcement was a bit of a mixed bag. Between the iPad Air and the iPad 4, the changes are the form factor (smaller and lighter) and the A7 processor. Between the iPad mini Retina and the iPad mini, the changes are the Retina display and the A7 processor. Which is not to say they weren’t impressive technical feats. On the contrary. Slimming down the iPad and significantly improving processing power while retaining the top-notch battery life was pretty good. Fitting into the iPad mini a Retina display and significantly improving processing power while retaining the form-factor and top-notch battery life was even better. However they do come at increased prices. It appears Apple doesn’t want to squeeze its margins. That, along with a supply squeeze, may also be the reason why they decided not to throw in Touch ID. Now that was disappointing.
iPhone 5c: C is for Cheaper
I believe the iPhone 5s is a good phone. The iPhone 5c? Ummm let’s just say the iPhone 5s provides the better value and that’s where Apple’s emphasis is on. The mid-tier and low/free-tier phones are there only to provide coverage. But here are the numbers as to why I think Apple came out with the iPhone 5c.
Below is the pricing before the iPhone 5s arrived, the pricing if Apple had’t released the iPhone 5c, and the current pricing.
| Subsidized Selling Price | Unsubsidized Selling Price | iSuppli Est. Cost | Gross Margin | Gross Margin % | Gross Margin % Change | |
| IPhone 5 64GB | 399 | 849 | 238 | 611 | 71.97% | |
| IPhone 5 32GB | 299 | 749 | 217 | 532 | 71.03% | |
| IPhone 5 16GB | 199 | 649 | 207 | 442 | 68.10% | |
| iPhone 4S 16GB | 99 | 549 | 196 | 353 | 64.30% | |
| IPhone 4 8GB | FREE | |||||
| iPhone 5S 64GB | 399 | 849 | 218.3 | 630.7 | 74.29% | 2.32% |
| IPhone 5S 32GB | 299 | 749 | 208.1 | 540.9 | 72.22% | 1.19% |
| IPhone 5S 16GB | 199 | 649 | 198.7 | 450.3 | 69.38% | 1.28% |
| IPhone 5 16GB | 99 | 549 | 207 | 342 | 62.30% | -2.00% |
| iPhone 4S 8GB | FREE | |||||
| iPhone 5S 64GB | 399 | 849 | 218.3 | 630.7 | 74.29% | 2.32% |
| IPhone 5S 32GB | 299 | 749 | 208.1 | 540.9 | 72.22% | 1.19% |
| IPhone 5S 16GB | 199 | 649 | 198.7 | 450.3 | 69.38% | 1.28% |
| iPhone 5C 32GB | 199 | 649 | 182.85 | 466.15 | 71.83% | |
| iPhone 5C 16GB | 99 | 549 | 173.45 | 375.55 | 68.41% | 4.11% |
| iPhone 4S 8GB | FREE |
If Apple hadn’t released the iPhone 5c, they would have taken a 2% reduction in the gross margin of their mid-tier phone. But instead with the 16GB iPhone 5c they were able to pull off a 4.11% increase. Or 6.11% if compared against the alternate scenario. I don’t know about you, but I think 4% is pretty good! Notice that they were also able get modest increases in their top-tier phone gross margins.
This increase is mainly due to savings in the casing. That’s why the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5 are practically the same except for the casing. Apple bumped down their previous top-tier phone as they normally do but this time changed the casing. Plus, given the similarities between the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5 casings, there are production line benefits for the top-tier phone.
People were disappointed by the price of the iPhone 5c. It certainly wasn’t cheaper for them (or me). But it certainly was cheaper for Apple. To manufacture.
iOS 7 Gold Master
Apple has released iOS 7 Gold Master (GM), right after the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c launch. The GM is already the final version for release. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see any more outward changes. Unfortunately because I was still hoping for changes to those fugly icons. But the good news is that iOS 7 is good to go!
MacBook Air
Michelle needed a computer for her research, and Jeanne iPad mini just doesn’t cut it. So we decided that I get her an early ;) Christmas present: A MacBook Air. It’s small and light, the perfect ultraportable. As expected, build quality of the aluminum unibody is excellent. It has a 1.3GHz dual-core processor, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of SSD storage. And most importantly for an ultraportable, it uses the Intel Haswell architecture which has been especially great in terms of battery life.
iOS 7 beta 6
Apple has released iOS 7 beta 6, less than a week after beta 5 which was delayed due to the developer site hacking. With this release, Apple is back on track on its release cycle. The main description of the release is that it fixes a major iTunes bug. I didn’t really encounter it. I couldn’t see any outward changes. In iTunes or elsewhere. Even the release notes is quite short. Looks like iOS 7 is almost good to go!