A day before the announcement of the new iPhones, analytics company Localytics has provided a picture of the iPhone market today. It shows that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus between them account for a full 40% of all iPhones in use, with the iPhone 5s trailing behind at 23.7%.
The same data also backs our report that the iPhone 5c is being discontinued, showing that it accounts for just 8.5% of active iPhones, putting it below the iPhone 4S. This can only add to doubts about whether the often rumored and debunked iPhone 6c (beautiful concept images below) could succeed …
The domination of the iPhone 6/Plus is no surprise, following a succession of record sales since its launch a year ago, but while 5c sales were expected to be relatively low, they appear to have been worse than expected. Localytics based its data on monitoring apps running on more than 100M iPhones during August.
The poor showing of the 5c casts further doubt onto its rumored replacement, the 6c. While sources confirm that Apple has been working on a new 4-inch device, we’re not expecting to see it tomorrow. Some rumors suggested Apple was planning a later launch, in November, while KGI’s Ming-Chi Kuo has said we probably won’t see it until next year.
Given the apparent lack of interest in the 5c, you have to wonder whether launching a 6c makes sense at all – this year or next. Perhaps abandoning the plastic casing in favor of metal, simply using the size and specs to distinguish it, could give it a future? This is what Martin Hajek has shown in his latest concept images, the iPhone 6c depicted as simply a smaller version of the 6S.
Check out more images in the gallery below.
Would you be tempted by a 4-inch iPhone 6c with casing to match its larger brothers? Let us know in the comments.
