On September 10 (11 in the Philippines), Apple announced two new iPhones. The iPhone 5S is essentially an iPhone 5 with an upgraded processor, a slightly-improved front-facing camera (for better selfie shots!), and a fingerprint sensor built into the home button. The iPhone 5C is also just like the iPhone 5, except it’s slightly thicker, weighs a bit more, and is made with cheaper materials.
We think the latter will be a hit here in the Philippines, because…
8. It Will be (Relatively) Cheap
The 16GB iPhone 5C debuted with a $99 price tag in the US, if you get it with a postpaid contract. Imagine what kind of really affordable postpaid bundles local telcos will create for this phone!
7. The Colors!
Oh wow, a pink iPhone right out-of-the-box? Women will love it, while macho contrarians will go for the color just to be ironic or something.
6. It Will be the Go-To Contest Prize
Move over, iPad mini. This new Apple device will be desirable enough to attract contest entries for raffles. Expect many websites to offer an iPhone 5C in exchange for Facebook likes, Twitter followers, etc. Maybe you could even see such a promo on our Facebook page!
5. Cases as Gifts Will Become Cool Again
Remember when you’d buy a fancy case for your friend’s Nokia phone, as a gift? It was a cheap way of showing how you feel, made possible by the fact that your friend could afford said Nokia phone in the first place. The iPhone 5C’s relatively low price and mix-and-match case setup (5 different phone colors, 6 different case colors) will bring this gift-giving trend back.
4. It Will Make Better Selfies Possible
No matter what other people have said about the old iPhone 5, the consensus was that it had a pretty great main and front-facing camera for a phone. Only the Nokia Lumia 925 won more praise in the camera department.
Those same cameras on the iPhone 5 are also on the iPhone 5C, meaning better pictures on-the-go (including selfies) is now available for people with less money to spend. The 5C still can’t make the ugly look beautiful, though.
3. Because even though it’s cheaper than the previous model, everyone will know you have the latest and trendiest iPhone!
… Provided you don’t get the one in black.
2. You will now be able to borrow Lightning chargers from … everybody (!!!)
With the proliferation of affordable iPhones and with the iPad mini already in the market, there will always be a good Samaritan willing to lend you a relatively hard to find charger.
1. Second-Hand iPhone 5 Units Will Start Flooding the Market
In this case, you can forget about the iPhone 5C, and wait for people to start selling their “old” iPhone 5 units to raise cash for their purchase of the iPhone 5S (the new flagship Apple mobile) or 5C (for buyers who want to go “low-end”). Time to call your favorite Greenhills gadget stall!
