UK customers can shop at O2, Three, or the Apple Store

Mar 18, 2014 09:26 GMT  ·  By

Following rumors that Apple and O2 will team up to get more iPhone 5c units moving, the UK Apple Store (at store.apple.com/uk) and O2 have kicked off sales of an 8GB version of the handset. The phone is offered for free with a two-year contract, or unlocked with a still-hefty price tag.

The 8 GB iPhone 5c is currently being sold in European Apple Stores for €429 ($597.68) and £429 in the UK ($713.77), unlocked and available in all of the existing color options: White, Pink, Yellow, Blue, and Green. UK’s O2 offers the phone unlocked, with a £409.99 ($682/€490) price tag.

Currently, the handset is available in Europe only, but the US is expected to receive shipments of the entry-level device as well.

Data from various analytics companies suggests that Apple’s iPhone 5c has been a flop, but some argue that the unapologetically-plastic phone is actually driving sales of the more expensive iPhone 5s.

Regardless of the hypothesis we embrace, Apple continues to aggressively market and price the phone as it prepares to launch the all-new iPhone 6 later this year.

iPhone 5c is but a repackaged iPhone 5, but the design is nothing to overlook. Available in five vibrant colors, the iPhone 5c is Apple’s first (and probably last) iPhone that sells in a range of different colors. Studies have shown that women are far more attracted to this iPhone model than male customers are.

The 5c has the same Retina display as found in the iPhone 5. It measures 4 inches on the diagonal and sports a 1136-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi (pixels per inch).

The phone’s iSight camera has 8 megapixels and a ƒ/2.4 aperture, complete with a sapphire crystal lens cover, LED flash, a backside illumination sensor, and a five-element lens module. Video recording goes up to 1080p HD at 30 fps with video stabilization.

The FaceTime camera has 1.2 megapixels and is capable of 720p HD video recording. It also has a backside illumination sensor.

iPhone 5c ships with the Apple EarPods with Remote and Mic, which come in a neat storage-and-travel case. The phone connects to external devices and computers via Apple’s proprietary Lightning port, which the EU Commission wants to eliminate from Apple’s devices by 2017.

Apple’s iPhone 5c may or may not be a successful product, but as some analysts put it, competitors would give an arm and a leg to have such high-class problems with their existing lineup of products.