Apple ‘halves production of iPhone 5c’
Reports have suggested that Apple has halved its daily production of the iPhone 5C just weeks after its launch.
The company will now produce only 150,000 daily units, down from 300,000.
The smartphone’s brightly coloured cases and relatively low price was seen as an attempt to make inroads into emerging markets.
Chinese website C Technology reported the drop in production and claimed that inside sources said sales of the handset had been disappointing.
Apple unveiled the iPhone 5c alongside the iPhone 5s in September.
The iPhone 5c was said to be the company’s first lower cost smartphone, retailing around £62 less than the iPhone 5s, which came with inbuilt fingerprint technology.
First thought-controlled bionic leg
A leg amputee has been fitted with the world’s first thought-controlled bionic leg.
Zac Vawter’s thought-controlled bionic limb, designed and developed by Vanderbilt University and used in conjunction with groundbreaking techniques at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC), allows for "activities unprecedented for any leg amputee," said lead researcher Dr. Levi Hargrove of the RIC.
That includes moving between sitting and standing up and ascending and descending stairs. Vawter took the leg to task last year when he climbed all 103 flights of Chicago’s Willis Tower.
Apple to release lower-cost iMac?
Apple could be releasing a lower-cost iMac in 2014 according to a prediction by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo
First reported by Mac Rumours, Kuo’s research note explains that a new cheaper model of the pre-existing iMac could hit shelves in 2014.
Kuo believes that sales of the most recent iMac models haven’t met expectations and for this reason Apple may look to release a lower-cost version to bring in sales in emerging markets.
Kuo states, "Our surveys indicate that Apple’s latest iMac model, released at end-2012 with an all-new-design, shipped fewer-than-expected units in the worldwide market."
Apple’s iMac range updated in 2012 boasted a staggering 80 per cent thinner body, i5 or i7 processors, 75 per cent less glare with an LED panel, and many more features.
The predicted cheaper model is explained by Kuo who states, "We thus think Apple may offer a budget iMac model to push shipments among non-US markets in the face of solid competition from Levono (CN), HP (US), and other rivals."
