Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will soon be releasing its next smartphone, the iPhone 6, though the exact date is still unknown. However, a development today suggests that the launch cannot be too far off. Powerful retailer Walmart is offering a huge discount on the iPhone 5S, selling new examples for just $119, as long as the customer also signs up for a two year AT&T contract at the same time. 5Cs are even cheaper, costing just $29 when combined with a two year AT&T contract.
This discount beats that offered by rival retailer Best Buy, which is also discounting the iPhone 5. The company offers iPhone 5Ss for $150 with a two year contract with Verizon, Sprint, or AT&T, while its 5Cs are sold at $50 with a similar contract. In both cases, the Walmart discount is deeper. However, the important part of both sets of savings is that they show major retailers are attempting to clear out inventory ahead of the iPhone 6’s arrival.
Target has joined with other retailers with a $50 increase in the trade-in value of iPhone 4s when the customer gets an iPhone 5S or 5C with a two year contract. This promotion is slated to roll out over this weekend, and can also be taken as an indicator that a third retail giant is drawing down its stocks of the most recent Apple Inc. (AAPL) smartphone. However, some analysts speculate that these deals simply track softening demand in a smartphone market approaching saturation, since 58 percent of adults in the United States now own one of the devices.
Of course, not all retailers are cutting prices on the latest iPhone. An extreme example is the jewelry house Alchemist London, which is offering two $1 million iPhone 5Ss for sale today. These swanky pieces of electronic chic feature bezels fashioned out of 24 karat gold and more than 1,600 tiny diamonds apiece as decoration. Interestingly, these iPhones do not come with a contract. They are, in fact, unlocked and suitable for use on any of the globe’s mobile networks.
The creation of the million-dollar iPhone 5 may itself be a sign that the smartphone’s run is coming to an end, however. These two phones may be nostalgic collector’s items for the ultra-rich offered in the last days of the fifth generation telephone’s existence.
The same major U.S. retailers are offering a battery of discounts on the iPad 2 this weekend also. The iPad 2 is rumored strongly to be next on the chopping block, with rapidly falling sales and indications that production of this model will soon cease. In this case, the desire to clear out extra inventory is transparent, adding more fuel to the speculation that the iPhone 5 sales are of the same nature and the iPhone 6’s release may be closer than suspected.
