Apple CEO Says iPhone 5C’s ‘Failure’ Due To Lack Of Fingerprint Scanner

NEW DELHI – Apple CEO Tim Cookhas finally revealed the reason why theiPhone 5C failed to take off in the market.While many have attributed the failureof the ‘cheaper’ iPhone to its year-oldspecifications, plastic body and high pricetag, Cook believes that it lacks the onefeature that makes iPhone 5S cool – fingerprintscanner.While announcing Apple’s Oct-Decquarterly results, Cook said, “I think the5S, people are really intrigued with TouchID. It’s a major feature that has excitedpeople. And I think that associated withthe other things that are unique to the 5S,got the 5S to have a significant amountmore attention and a higher mix ofsales.”iPhone 5S is the only model in Apple’sportfolio to have the new Touch ID fingerprintscanner, which can be used tounlock the smartphone by just placingthe thumb on the model’s Home button.Another distinguishing feature of thehandset is the gold colour option.On the other hand, iPhone 5C has thesame specifications as the older iPhone 5,but comes in a plastic casing instead ofthe premium aluminium body of thepredecessor. Its base variant has beenpriced at a hefty Rs 41,900 in the Indianmarket. Due to low sales, Apple has startedseveral offers – including buyback andEMI schemes – to push volumes.At the earnings call, Apple announcedthat it sold a total of 51 million iPhonesin the past quarter. However, the iPhone5C’s contribution to the volumes waslesser than expected, since it failed toclick with buyers.