I Just Held The New Plastic iPhone - And I Now Know The Answer To A Critical Question

For the last six months, Apple observers have expended a lot of words and emotions on the fact that one of Apple's new iPhones was going to be made out of plastic.

Apple zealots, after all, have been bashing all other smartphone makers for years for making phones out of "cheap plastic crap."

So the Apple-zealot baiters - the folks who regard Apple zealots as mildly amusing, mindless, religious fanatics - have had some fun wondering aloud what the zealots were going to say when Apple launched a phone made of plastic. And they've also had fun pointing out that, only a few short years ago, the Apple zealots fawned all over the iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3GS, which were also made of plastic.

Well, now Apple has launched the phone made of plastic - the iPhone 5C. So the war of words between the Apple zealots and the Apple zealot baiters can now be settled once and for all.

Is Apple in fact now making phones out of "cheap plastic crap?"

Or did Apple somehow pull off a miracle in which it is making phones out of plastic that don't feel like they are made of plastic?

Well, I just held the iPhone 5C for the first time.

So I know the answer.

And the answer is ...

The plastic in the iPhone 5C doesn't look or feel like plastic. And it certainly doesn't feel like "cheap plastic crap."

The plastic in the iPhone 5C looks and feels like 1) painted ceramic, and/or 2) painted metal.

Basically, it looks and feels like a super-high-quality, space-age material - the kind of quality of material Apple has been making phones out of for the last couple of years, ever since it stopped making them out of cheap plastic crap.

So, worry not, Apple zealots.

And ridicule not, Apple zealot baiters.

The iPhone 5C feels like a super phone.

Yes, it's way too expensive.

But, now that Apple has forked the iPhone line into premium (5S) and plastic (5C), Apple has greater pricing flexibility. And I have heard that Apple isn't all that serious about holding the line on the plastic phone's price.

So, if and when Apple cuts the price of its plastic phone to, say, $250 in emerging markets, it will sell bazillions of them.

SEE ALSO: UNBOXING: Here Are Apple's Awesome New iPhones!

Disclosure: I own Apple stock.