Nearly half of those questioned in poll say high price is a turn off
Apple's new iPhone 5s is too expensive, according to a poll carried out in the UK. Almost half of Brits questioned stated the new device was overpriced.
With 42% of smartphone users put off by high price of iPhone's, the lower priced iPhone 5c could have appeal, showed the survey.
Altogether, 31% of existing UK iPhone users say they want the new Apple iPhone 5s. This indicates a drop in enthusiasm for the Apple phone brand since last year when a similar survey conducted after the iPhone 5 launch revealed 44% of iPhone users were willing to upgrade straight away.
A similar decrease in interest for the iPhone was revealed among all smartphone users in the sample, with only 11% saying they wanted to upgrade to the new iPhone 5s without needing any further information about the product, the poll from online survey company, Usurv, showed. Last year's survey found 20% were ready to switch to the iPhone 5 model immediately after launch.
Guy Potter, director and market researcher at Usurv, said: 'We ran research to gauge people's instant reactions to the new phone in the same way as we did after the iPhone 5 launch last year. Interestingly, while 31% of iPhone users wanting to have the new iPhone 5s can hardly be called a failure, the desire for the phone does seem muted, with fewer people immediately excited by the device than for last year's model.'
Users of the iPhone's main competitor, the Samsung Galaxy, are mostly staying loyal, with only 6% saying they want to switch to the iPhone 5s in the online poll of 1000 UK adults. Interestingly, 13% of Blackberry users are ready to switch to the iPhone 5s, more than for any other competing brand.
However, the research found that Apple may be on track with the other new phone announced yesterday; the less pricey, iPhone 5c. High prices for previous Apple devices appear to have been an obstacle for many UK phone buyers with 42% of the sample revealing they had wanted an iPhone in the past but were put off because it was too expensive. This was highest amongst Nokia owners, with 59% of them not buying an iPhone in the past due to cost.
According to the research, the most popular feature on the iPhone 5s is likely to be its fingerprint reader, which provides user authentication for unlocking the phone. This was highlighted as the most appealing feature by 30% of respondents. Most of the other new features provoked little interest and 40% of the sample said that none of the new features appealed to them.
Potter added: 'Of the new features, only the fingerprint reader seems to have caught people's attention. The brand is under pressure to deliver excitement and innovation at every launch and this time the initial mood indicates that in that sense it has failed.
'The fact that a significant slice of people had been put off buying an iPhone in the past could suggest that Apple might be able to tap in to a wider market with the lower priced iPhone 5c. However it's difficult to say whether the price is actually low enough and how operators will price it in their contracts.'
