Apple Reportedly Increasing Gold iPhone 5s Production in Wake of Launch Demand | Hacker News Reader

Apple Reportedly Increasing Gold iPhone 5s Production in Wake of Launch Demand

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17 pointstaigeair25 comments

I'm quite sure they manufactured fewer gold iPhones. It's a win-win. They get to test out the market for a new color before making a ton of them, and this now helps to create the perception of exclusivity around the phone.

This is really interesting to me. I was actually asking a lot of my friends which colour they'd buy. No one admitted they'd buy the gold one but I believed most people would buy it because iPhone is status - just like why the Prius had so much success because it stood out and solar panels are installed so other people can see them, not for optimal sunlight.

I think this is the case here.

The gold color seems unreasonably ostentatious, I mean, how many times do you see a car painted a golden color? Not often, it's too far out. People would be more embarrassed having a golden-plated car than feel good about it as if it's signaling wealth.

So, I expect the demand for golden iPhones to be high only in very specific subsets of people, not among normal people trying to signal a high status. People also want to signal class in addition to wealth.

The gold colour is actually a lot more subtle in real life than I'd expected, it's not really that ostentatious.

Wasn't gold originally supposed to be called "champagne" or was that media speculation on a different hue? A champagne color is definitely more muted than straight up "gold".

It was probably media speculation. Since "Champagne" is well-known to be trademarked (only sparkling wine made in the Champagne region can technically be called Champagne), Apple likely never intended to call the gold version a champagne color. I never saw any leaked material from Apple referring to it as such, at least. It seems like the media settled on calling it champagne and the Champagne gatekeepers preemptively made noise about it[1], thus adding fuel to the fire.

[1] https://twitter.com/Champagne/status/370623172166430720

Well played by Apple. Vaporous controversy = free earned media.

Why would you compare a phone to a car? (Champagne cars are pretty prevalent, btw.)

How about comparing it to a personal item people keep on them, like a pocket watch, watch, or glasses frame? Gold & silver are essentially neutral when it comes to "personal metal items".

How dare Apple give people the option of owning a color they want!

It's the only way to easily differentiate the 5s from the 5 at a glance. A lot of people want others to know they have the new one, no matter how tacky it makes them look.

No, the silver home button/touchid ring is pretty distinctive as well... but only if you can see the front of the phone.

Plus most folks now have cases, too.

They should have offered the gold one at three times the price.

and brought back "I Am Rich" as a 5s gold exclusive

that would really set apart the high rollers

I had the golden n64 controller that came with the gold Ocarina of Time cartridge. That was probably the last time I felt special because of a paint job. This is just people wanting to show they have the new and not the old like others have said.

Or they like the way it looks.

I lined up for a 5S today and they actually had absolutely no golds. So the supply is obviously really low; I had to go with the black version.

(and I was the very first person in line.)

Same here. Nashville, Tennessee.

This is all supply, not demand. I'm sure demand is huge (it sure sounds like it), but there just aren't very many available. The store where I was this morning had literally ten units available in gold, and that was it. They had hundreds of the others. I've been hearing the same sort of thing from all over. Even if gold was half as popular as the other two 5S choices, it still would have sold out instantaneously.

And now there will be extra demand created as word gets out about this one model being scarce.

The location I was at (a Verizon store) didn't even have any in gold available.

I just picked up my 5s (silver/white) and it's incredible. My wife has the 5, and the 5s is surprisingly better. I stopped by about 30min before the store opened and there were only about 20 people in line, so figured why not and just caught up on email while I waited, it went pretty fast. The Apple stores are all slammed, but the other retailers aren't too bad.

Carriers already whined about 5S supply issues using adverbs like "grotesquely" - quite telling of their state of mind.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/17/iphone-5s-supply-will...

I bought the gold because it's easiest to distinguish from all the older devices (we have them all for business).

Surely people love the C3PO character from Star Wars, and want the same color on their iPhone.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BUA7NhCIcAEHxWO.jpg:large

On the online store the gold ones are the only ones showing that they're now shipping in October rather than 7-10 days. I ordered my space gray one last night and got 1-3 days.

It reminds me of when the gold motorola razr came out. It was by far the most desired.

Is it real gold, or titanium nitride?

Just checked on eBay buy-it-now:

    5s gold:   $786 (just one), every other one is above $914

    5s silver: $816 (just one), every other one is above $915

    5s grey:   $832 (just one), every other one is above $867

Gold doesn't seem very different.

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