Your trusted source

The higher-than-expected price of Apple Inc's new cheaper iPhone eased worries about gross margins, while arousing concerns the company was not being aggressive enough in its fight against Google Inc's market-dominating Android operating system.

Apple's shares were down about 3 percent at $480.50 before the market opened on Wednesday, a day after it unveiled the 5S, a high-end iPhone with a fingerprint scanner as well as a cheaper 5C model targeted at emerging markets.

"...We worry that Apple's inability/unwillingness to come out with a low-priced offering for emerging markets nearly ensures that the company will continue to be an overall share loser in the smartphone market until it choses to address the low end," Sanford C. Bernstein analysts said in a note.

Still, Bernstein maintained its "outperform" rating on Apple's stock, saying that it expected the new iPhones to have little impact on gross margins.