Buzzkill! The 5C is not a budget iPhone

Apple has unveiled the iPhone 5C, presumably hoping that it will help the company penetrate the lower-cost smartphone markets of China, India and other developing countries. However, if Wall Street Journal's report is anything to go by, the iPhone 5C isn't anywhere near as inexpensive as people were expecting.

Sadly, we don't know the Indian pricing of the smartphone yet, but we do know that China is getting it for 4,488 Yuan, which is roughly Rs 47,000. This, as you might have noticed, is more expensive than the flagship iPhone 5 this past year. We expect the pricing to be similar when the smartphone makes its way here, but it will probably be cheaper by a couple of thousand bucks, since otherwise, people would just buy leftover stocks of the iPhone 5 instead.

The 5C isn't as cheap as some hoped

Analysts so far had been predicting a price somewhere in the range of 3,000 Yuan for the iPhone 5C. Because of pricing, many in China are preferring locally-made smartphones instead of Apple's fare. A Samsung vendor named Wang Shoubin told WSJ that around 70 percent of customers were looking for phones that cost between 1,000 and 2,000 yuan. “Here everyone buys national products,” he told WSJ.

According to the owner of an electronics shop, Ma Tao, the relatively cheaper price of the iPhone 5C will exhibit a short-term spike in sales. However, in the long run, Apple's reputation as a maker of premium high-end smartphones will take a hit. Tao compares the challenges of selling a cheaper iPhone to that of selling Samsung's mid-end smartphones.  “Xiaomi phones are 1500 yuan. They’re cheap and they have about the same hardware as more expensive Samsung phones,” he said.

The Cupertino-based company might have shot itself in the foot with its pricing if it hopes to penetrate deeper into developing markets. We’ll know more for sure once the company announces the pricing for India.