Offer available with a two-year carrier contract, iPhone 5s also cheaper now

Mar 7, 2014 10:01 GMT  ·  By

American retailer Walmart is once again slashing the price of Apple’s slow-selling iPhone 5c, offering the unapologetically-plastic smartphone for just 30 bucks (around €20) with a mandatory two-year wireless contract.

According to some reports, Apple and its carrier partners are stockpiling iPhone 5c units with no indication that people are going to buy them all. Around 3 million handsets are said to be filling warehouses, as people keep choosing the more expensive iPhone 5c.

It’s not surprising then that Walmart is now again slashing the prices on the iPhones it carries. A 5c model, sold with a mandatory two-year wireless contract, now goes for just $29, or around €20. They might as well give them away and just have people signing that deal with AT&T.

iPhone 5s handsets are also on sale, in an effort to reduce the price gap between the two models. Customers who are looking to buy the higher-specced, Touch ID-enabled iPhone 5s can expect to pay $119 (€86) with a two-year contract.

But it’s not just the reported low sales of the 5c that has prompted Walmart to take such drastic actions. Keep in mind that Apple is soon going to launch an all-new iPhone model, rendering existing phones obsolete.

But until then, Apple and its partners will have to keep struggling to get rid of existing 5c stock. One recent study indicated that women were far fonder of the colorful device than men were. Perhaps trying to market the handset more towards this demographic would help.

However, the reality is many people know that the iPhone 5c is nothing more than an iPhone 5 repackaged in shiny plastic. The hardware inside is virtually unchanged (from 2012), and the only big difference is the marketing, which heavily relies on the color options and the sleek enclosure.

At the iPhone 5c launch, Apple also threw in a range of cases that resemble “crocs” (strange shoes with holes in them). These haven’t been widely successful either, and they actually gave birth to some harsh puns.

The reality is that Apple hasn’t done a spectacular job selling the iPhone 5c. We’ve voiced our own opinion on the matter in a recent editorial, noting that the late Steve Jobs (had he been around still) “probably wouldn’t have wasted time pitching an unapologetically-plastic iPhone to an undecided crowd.” Everyone knows the next big thing is in wearables, and some believe Apple should have already delivered in this area.