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iPhone 5c sales disappointing, but iPhone 5s is in short supply: Verizon

iPhone 5c sales disappointing, but iPhone 5s is in short supply: Verizon

By Reuters | Updated: 18 October 2013 12:03 IST

Verizon Communications Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said Apple Inc's iPhone 5c (Review) "undersold expectations" in the third quarter, while its pricier iPhone 5s (Review I Pictures) was in short supply.

The "5c is in plenty supply" and "if you generally talk to each of the carriers I think they'll tell you the same thing," Shammo told Reuters in an interview Thursday after the company reported its third-quarter earnings.

Apple, which has its phones made by contract manufacturers overseas, is cutting production orders for the cheaper plastic-backed iPhone 5c just a month after its launch at the same time as the iPhone 5s, a source familiar with its supply chain told Reuters on Wednesday.

The production cutback was seen by analysts as a rare misstep for Apple, which typically only launches one phone at a time and tends to see massive demand for its devices, particularly during the quarter of their launch.

Consumer reception to the iPhone 5s appeared to have been much stronger, at least at Verizon Wireless, the biggest U.S. mobile operator.

Verizon's Shammo said scarcity of the iPhone 5s was a "significant issue" for Verizon Wireless, which missed Wall Street's third-quarter expectations for net subscriber additions as a result.

Shammo said iPhone 5s customers who were still waiting to receive their phones would be reflected in its numbers in the fourth quarter.

But he declined to say how much of an overall effect the shortage of the iPhone 5s had on the company's third-quarter figures.

About 51 percent of Verizon's smartphone activations in the quarter were for iPhone customers.

"What we don't know is how many customers would have come that didn't because they knew there was a shortage," he said.

Apple iPhone 5c

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS
Variants

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Solid in all departments
iOS ecosystem remains unrivaled

Bad
Not as future-proof as the 5s
Questionable value for money

Read detailed Apple iPhone 5c review

Display 4.00-inch

Processor Apple A6

Front Camera 1.2-megapixel

Rear Camera 8-megapixel

RAM 1GB

Storage 16GB

Battery Capacity 1507mAh

OS iOS 7

Resolution 640x1136 pixels

More Apple mobiles Apple mobiles price in India

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Apple iPhone 5s

KEY SPECS
NEWS
Variants

Display 4.00-inch

Processor Apple A7