Another round of massive iPhone price cuts over at Wal-Mart could be the strongest indicator yet that shelf space is being cleared ahead of the late-summer launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone Air.
There’s been another tell-tale sign this morning that Apple’s iPhone 6 will make an appearance in the very near future. In what’s being seen as a clear precursor to the launch of the next-generation version, both the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C have been dramatically slashed in price at Wal-Mart.
As of right now, the iPhone 5C is up for grabs for just $99 when taken on a two-year contract, representing a full 50% reduction in its standard list price. As for the iPhone 5C, Wal-Mart is offering the colorful alternative for just $29, which is a full 71% discount on its original on-contract selling price.
And while the odd price cut here and there isn’t anything to get too excited about, these kinds of price plummets are clear indicators that inventory is being cleared ahead of a major product launch.
Or in the case of the iPhone 6, two major product launches.
It’s become something of a no-brainer over recent weeks that Apple intends for the very first time to introduce two new iPhones in the same year with very different attributes. The 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will step in to take the place of the 5S, though a second launch event is expected to take place closer to November during which Apple will unveil its first Phablet – the 5.5-inch iPhone Air.
Apple’s co-founder, the late Steve Jobs, once made it abundantly clear that he had no intention of ever increasing the iPhone’s screen size – the idea of multiple iPhone variants and possible iOS fragmentation was something he stood very firmly against. Nevertheless, with Android rivals growing larger by the day and consumers in general responding well to the new big screen standard, Tim Cook’s Apple has little choice but to give the bandwagon serious thought and respond to buyer demands.
Ongoing leaks and rumors suggest this to be exactly the case, with Apple’s 5.5-inch iPhone Air having been designed to rope in power users and a larger corporate and business subscriber base than ever before. In addition, it’s also theorized that both the iPhone 6 and the iPhone Air could be the firm’s first Smartphones to break the 2K QHD barrier – the bar having recently been reset by the LG G3.