At 10am Pacific time (6pm London time) today Apple unveiled not one but two new iPhones to replace last years iPhone 5 in front of an excited audience in California.
The rumour mill has been working overtime hitting its peak over the last couple of weeks with speculations as to what these devices will have to offer, and unless you’ve had your head in the sand you will no doubt have seen and heard some of the many rumours flying about. Well here it is in a nutshell…
2 new iPhones!
Apple iPhone 5C
First up was the iPhone 5C introduced by Apple’s Senior Vice President of World Marketing, Phil Schiller, the cheaper more affordable version of the two handsets.
With a more fun and colourful approach to its design and made from a single part hard-coated polycarbonate, Apple will be releasing 16 GB and 32 GB versions of the new iPhone 5C available in Blue, White, Pink, Yellow or Green colour schemes with matching wall paper for around $99 and $199 respectively on a 2 year contract. Whilst iPhone 5C cases, available in a wide range of bright colours, will carry a retail price tag of $30 (about £25).
Apple iPhone 5C
The Apple iPhone 5C sports a 4 inch 640 x 1136p retina display with integrated touch and is powered by Apple’s own design A6 chip to give fast performance coupled together with a higher capacity battery to provide greater power efficiency. The same A6 chip can found in the iPhone 5.
Running on Apple’s new iOS 7 with 100Mbps LTE connectivity, the iPhone 5C is equipped with WiFi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and features an 8 mega pixel iSight camera with a hybrid IR filter and five-element lens and a 1.2MP FaceTime HD camera.
Apple iPhone 5S
Second up was the Apple iPhone 5S with Phil Schiller saying it’s “the most forward thinking of our devices, it might be the most forward thinking device ever”! The “gold standard in phones” the 5S features a new A7 64-bit chip that’s the first of its kind to be found in a smart phone, “moving mobile computing from 32-bit to 64-bit in one day”. 42 times faster with graphics performance that’s 53 times faster than that of the original iPhone.
Capable of running both 32 and 64-bit apps, Apple have re-engineered all built-in apps to ensure complete compatibility. With an M7 Motion coprocessor that measures motion data, accelerator and gestural data Apple believes that this will open up a “whole new generation of health and fitness applications”.
Apple iPhone 5S
Likewise running the new iOS 7 platform, the iPhone 5S features an 8 mega pixel camera with a 15% larger image sensor, True Tone dual LED flash that improves on the capture of colour tones, a new auto-image stabiliser and 720p HD video capture @120fps.
The fingerprint security sensor embedded into the Home button, called Touch ID is another new feature of the iPhone 5S which scans sub-epidermal layers of the skin and has 360 degree readability for a more accurate reading no matter what angle you hold your finger at, and provides enhanced security,even secure iTunes store purchases.
The Apple iPhone 5S is a premium smart phone and with it carries a premium price tag. Colour schemes for the 5S include Silver, Gold and Space Grey and will be released in 16, 32 and 64 GB versions. The iPhone 5S leather cases will be available in Beige, Black, Blue, Brown, Yellow and Red.
UK Pricing and Release Date
Both the Apple iPhone 5C and 5S will be available in the UK from 20th September. Pre-order from Friday 13th to be the first to get your hands on one of the new iPhones. The iPhone 5C will carry a retail price of £469 or £549, depending on which model you go for whilst the 5S will set you back an estimated £549, £629 and £709 respectively.
Even though these new handsets will be replacing the iPhone 5, the Apple iPhone 4S remains and users will be able to get a free software upgrade to the newly launched iOS 7.
Will you be sticking with your iPhone 5 or will you be cashing in and getting an upgrade? Let us know your thoughts.
