Apple’s 8GB iPhone 5c official, is significantly cheaper

Poor sales of the iPhone 5c, a re-skinned version of the iPhone 5, (compare for yourself) have seemingly spurred Apple to release a cheaper 8GB version. The official announcement from Apple has happened, but UK telecom O2 has dropped the ball early, offering the 8GB iPhone 5c for £409.99, £100 cheaper than the 16GB model.

Apple UK’s official pricing is a little dearer than O2’s.

There are no differences between the 8 and 16GB model, outside of the reduced storage size. The discontinued iPad 4 may also see a re-release with the 8GB iPhone 5c, says 9to5Mac. It will replace the iPad 2 and could cost US$399.

All of this is due to “disastrous” sales of the iPhone 5c, according to a Business Insider report. The report says that activations in China, a brand new region for Apple, were as low as 2%. New iPhone 5s activations reached 12%, with the iPhone 5 attaining the highest activation rate of 16%.

A report even more damming than the last states that more than three-million non-activated iPhone 5c’s are wasting away in warehouses. Is this where Apple finally plateaus and is forced to come up with innovative devices instead of re-skinning older products and notching up their speed slightly? When the sales figures are finally dug up, Tim Cook will have to reflect long and hard about the choices he’s made. Hopefully, this will produce devices that are innovative instead of being “thinner, lighter, faster”.