Apple just announced its new iPhone 5C, a less expensive version of its original smartphone that could help it in emerging markets where shoppers are inclined to cheaper smartphones. As we’ve written, some analysts think Apple would have to drop its iPhone price tag to about $400 for it to really expand in that market, where it has just a 5% share of the smartphone sales by volume.
But according to Apple’s Chinese website, the iPhone 5C with 16 gigabytes of memory will start at 4,488 renminbi, or $733. That’s not that much cheaper than the price of the existing iPhone 5 in China of 5,288 renminbi, or $864.
Bloggers on Sina Weibo, China’s largest microblog network, have already seized on the price. One blogger called the new iPhone 5c “the so-called cheap phone.” One user posted, “Apple is too expensive. I’m finally saying bye bye!” Another, referring to a report of a teenager who sold his kidney to buy an iPhone last year, said, “My doctor told me that selling one of my kidneys still wouldn’t be enough to buy the iPhone 5c. What do I do now?!”