iPhone will stop producing the lower-price iPhone 5C, said Taiwan’s Industrial and Commercial Times.

Last year, Apple launched the plastics iPhone5C as an alternative for iPhone5S to gear to the budget users. This device is available in five different colors, at the price in the beginning of $99 (PHP 4451)

Although according to Apple Insider this past March the 5C was sold out much of the competition during the final quarter of 2013, including several popular phones running Android, Google’s mobile operating system. During Apple’s June quarter, the 5C seemed to show an improvement in sales, said Apple Insider. But it becomes more ineffectively after that.

The company did not quote any clear reason for withdraw of the model, but remarkable decrease in sales column seems like a reasonable understanding. And seemingly the subsidized price of the 5C at $549 (PHP 24683) in the full retail cost still out of reaching for potential buyers in some developing markets. Apple CEO Tim Cook has acknowledged, the 5C was never geared to be a cheap phone.

In September, the company launched the 4.7-inch iPhone6 and the 5.5-inch iPhone6Plus and still sells the 4.0-inch iPhone5S at a starting price of $99 (PHP 4451). So, clearly, lack of some important features, the Touch ID fingerprint sensor and the speedier A7 processor found on the 5S, combined with a plastic case, it makes us more understand about Apple’s dicision.

Though Apple reports the total number of iPhone sales each quarter, the company doesn’t reveal those sales per device. So it’s difficult to know exactly how well or how poorly the 5C has fared in the market. But with the new iPhone 6 models seeing huge demand and the 5S still a viable product at user-friendly prices, it’s only a matter of time before the 5C faces retirement.