When you post the photos by mistake on your own website, it's hard to discredit the rumors. Following Apple's mis-displaying of an iPhone 6C image on the apple.com domain (see Gordon Kelly's reporting of the posted image here on Forbes for more). So let's run with the assumption that the iPhone 6C is happening. What will the reaction be to the handset, and will that matter to Apple and its strategic plans for the 6C?
I can imagine the reporting of the handset launch now. Why would Apple push another 'not-budget' model at the lowest point in the price range? Why would Cupertino push out a handset with two-year old technology? Why will it have a stupidly low amount of storage (I'm thinking 16 GB, because not even Apple would try to push 8 GB on a new iOS smartphone in 2015)? Why is Apple not offering a genuine 'budget' iPhone instead of this hack around the iPhone 5S?
Once all these discussion points are raised, the iPhone 6C will likely be labelled a folly, a freak of nature, and a failure.
And they will all be wrong, because the iPhone 6C will carry on the quiet success of the iPhone 5C. It will bring more consumers into Apple's services, and it will be one of the biggest selling mid-range handsets on the market - when Android manufacturers are struggling to even turn a profit in the mid-range space.
The iPhone 6C clearly helps Apple. It will likely be a plastic-cased variant of the iPhone 5S, and the biggest benefit for Tim Cook and his team will be the inclusion of TouchID on the lowest placed device. Not only does this make the handset a touch more convenient in use (such as unlocking the handset and verifying iTunes purchases), but it also allows Apple's 'next big thing' in Apple Pay to flourish across more of the portfolio.
It's important to remember that the iPhone 6C (and the current lower tier iPhone 5C) are not budget smartphones as such - the 5C still cost £319 here in the United Kingdom for a SIM free unit. Thanks to the subsidy that can be offered by carriers they can be sold for 'no cost' at the time of purchase with just monthly payments in the contract to take care of. The iPhone 5C (and surely the iPhone 6C) will be perceived on the High Street as 'free' smartphones.
The marketing message that a network can make by selling a 'free' iPhone is immense. The iPhone 5C is getting a bit long in the tooth now, so a refresh on the line and bumping the model number up to '6' will allow both the networks and Apple to push the 6C as a 'new' handset, even if it is effectively an iPhone 5S with a cheaper casing.
The iPhone 6C is going to be all about the marketing. iPhone as a whole is an aspirational brand, and while many will look at the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus (and presumably the 6S and 6S Plus come September), the 'C' model sells in high volume to a different sector of the market. It's not the budget handset that can be bought SIM free for £50-£100 which many commentators were hoping for ahead of the launch of the iPhone 5C, but it is a significantly lower initial investment to become an iPhone owner - and for many people it's the only way to afford the iPhone that they want and believe they should have.
That consumers will be getting an iPhone that is arguably two generations older than the current flagships isn't a huge deal. Anyone who is needing the ultimate power of a smartphone will have already picked up the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, or an equivalent Android handset. There is no point in looking at the iPhone 6C and hoping to see a leading handset.
Consumers get a 'free' handset, Apple gets a larger user base with the current technology to push forward into new frontiers, and carriers have a handset that allows them to say the key phrase "free iPhone!" what's not to love?
The iPhone 6C will be the iPhone for everyone else. It won't be sexy enough for geekerati, it won't be powerful enough for the developers, it won't have the storage for the media collector, and it won't push the envelope in any way whatsoever. It will be seen as Apple on autopilot.
For many that will be enough to label it a failure.
But the iPhone 6C will continue to open up Apple's ecosystem for the masses. It will put the capabilities of Apple Pay and the TouchID security into more handsets around the world. And it will give people who are looking for a 'bargain' an option to buy an iPhone. Just as the iPhone 5C never fully received the credit for creating a new market and bolstering Apple's ecosystem, the iPhone 6C will continue to push the boundaries in the boring middle ground. There's no glory to be had in that space, so in a sense this handset will fail to find glory... but it will welcome millions of satisfied users into the Apple world.
That's the sort of quiet success Apple will be happy with.
