Apple unveiled iPhone 5 successor at a launch event held in the company's headquarters on September 10th, 2013. The seventh generation of the iPhone was introduced as the iPhone 5S. In the event, Apple also formally introduced its lower-end counterpart, the iPhone 5C.
Prior to its official unveiling, media speculation primarily focused upon reports that the next iPhone would include a fingerprint scanner; including Apple's acquisition of AuthenTec, a developer of mobile security products, references to a fingerprint sensor on the home button in the beta release of iOS 7 and leaked packaging for an iPhone 5S showing that the traditional home button now had a metallic "ring" around it.
While the iPhone 5C became available for preorder on September 13, 2013, the iPhone 5S is available on September 20, 2013.
The iPhone 5S: Forward Thinking
Beside the 64-bit A7 processor and high-end camera features, the 5S that has three color options (space-grey, white with silver trim, and white with gold trim) is highlighting a fingerprint scanner for security.
The optional fingerprint scanner once again pushes Apple's reputation as a company with cutting-edge features that influence people on how they use their phones. The new scanner, the Touch ID sensor with 360-degree readability, is integrated into the sapphire crystal topped home button and "stainless-steel detection ring."
In addition to the Touch ID sensor doubling as security key instead of a four-key password, 5S owners can also purchase apps and other iTunes content with a tap of a finger. Fingerprint information is never available to other apps, Apple says, nor will it be stored in the cloud.
As for guest profiles, the 5S can store details for multiple fingers.
The device's Touch ID stays classic with a circle to capture fingerprints at multiple angles. It collects more prints the more the user tap. The entire setup process for the fingerprint takes a minute or less. After the process is done, the 5S can scan fingerprints almost instantaneously and unnoticeable. The noticeable thing about the home button is that the button is no longer concave like any of its predecessors.
For some users that don't want to use the fingerprint scanner, they can still use the four-digit PIN password or no password at all option.
Hardware design and dimension are identical as the older iPhones. The "space gray" design with the silver and black colors has a look that feels like a cross between the iPhone 5 and the 4/4S' silver-and-black banded design. It actually looks more distinctive than the all-black iPhone 5. The gold color is pale like champagne. And the white and silver version looks just like last year's model.
The iPhone 5S has the same 4-inch screen as the iPhone 5, and Apple's Retina Display, which has a 1,136x640 pixel resolution and a pixel density of 326 ppi.
The iPhone 5S is the first to introduce a 64-bit chip in a mobile phone, but will be backward-compatible with 32-bit apps. Apple's A7 processor promises to power the iPhone 5S with 56 times the graphics performance of the very first iPhone, and about 40 times its processing power. The 5S features OpenGL ES 3.0.
New to the iPhone 5S is the M7 motion processor, which joins the A7 chip in processing. The M7 chip is more for processing the accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass data.
Apple takes the iPhone 5S to 10 hours of talk time over 3G, 10 hours of LTE browsing, and 10 hours of video. Users also get 250 hours of standby mode, a full day longer than on the iPhone 5 (225 hours). The iPhone is without NFC, which makes it the only major platform to exclude the short-range protocol.
When it comes to camera territory, Apple has traditionally been a gold standard, highly consistent in all scenarios without fussing with controls. This has been slipping with competitors' improved cameras. Although Apple doesn't want to keep up with the competition for camera resolution and stays with its 8MP camera, the 5S features a five-element iSight camera lens with a sensor size that is 15 percent larger than before. Packing a f/2.2 aperture, more lights theoretically makes better pictures.
The 5S flash also represents a big advance. Calling it "True Tone", it has two LED flashes with two different colors stacked on top of each other. With the True Tone flash, the phone triggers an initial flash that gauges the colors of the environment. Then the two flashes fire together in different intensities that adjust based on the light in the room. There are 1,000 flash combinations.
The iPhone 5S also has a new setting called "burst" that snaps 10 frames per second. With iOS 7, the software suggests the best ones and lets the user to quickly eliminate the others. The camera can also take shots that span a 28-megapixel panorama. Apple will now automatically adjust movement exposure with auto image stabilization.
With 1080p HD recording for the front-facing camera. The rear captures video at the usual 30fps as well as 120fps for slow-motion video. In the app, slow-motion can be selected for various parts of the clip shot by sliding little markers.
With Apple just now getting around to features like burst capture. However, Apple's strength is in bringing consistently great photos to the mass market, and the new baked-in camera features seem to integrate quite nicely with iOS 7's new software.
Calling it "the most forward-thinking phone anyone's ever made," The 5S with iOS 7 software inside, has a brighter, more colorful interface as its major cosmetic enhancement. A Control Center that users can call up from any screen for one-touch settings, and the new camera apps are more substantial features.
The iPhone 5S costs $199 for the 16GB version, $299 for 32GB, and $399 for 64GB. Protective cases that Apple made specifically for the device will cost $39 each. Many of the same options are available to those who want Apple's new flagship smartphone, but unlike the iPhone 5C, Apple isn't offering pre-orders for the iPhone 5S.
Along with the cheaper and stylishly colored iPhone 5C, the iPhone 5S goes on sale September 20 in various countries like the U.S., UK, China, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, and Singapore.
The iPhone 5C: For the Colorful
Apple officially unveiled the long-rumored iPhone 5C, a "downgraded" model of the flagship iPhone 5S. Much like its predecessors, the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C are susceptible to scuffed aluminum bodies and plastic backs, in the case of the iPhone 5C. The iPhone 5C case is available in five different colors
The iPhone 5C doesn't just offer an alternative to the standard iPhone line in regards to its five different hues; it's also a more economical option.
The phone has a polycarbonate (plastic) back. Jony Ive, Apple's senior Vice President of Design, described the iPhone 5C as "beautifully, unapologetically plastic. Multiple parts have been reduced to a single polycarbonate component whose service is continuous and seamless."
The device feels solid and dense, more like a candy-colored metal phone than a plastic phone. The 5C has a steel frame under its polycarbonate smooth finish. The curved edges are a bit of a return to the older plastic iPhones, but the phone's squarer design still comes through: it has a flat back.
The colors are clean, somewhat pastel and vibrant, and Apple's separately-sold $29 microfiber cases studded with large holes come in different color schemes, allowing for mix-and-match patterns.
The iPhone 5C is more like the iPhone 5 in terms of specifications, with the added better front-facing FaceTime HD camera and a slightly larger battery. The iPhone 5C weighs slightly more than the iPhone 5 but seems to offer slightly better battery life. The iPhone 5C doesn't ship 64GB version.
For the 5C, Apple is highlighting an A6 processor, an 8MP camera with a 3x video zoom in-camera app, an improved front-facing HD camera, and 802.11 a/b/g/n dual band Wi-Fi, as well as "more LTE bands for world coverage."
From a glance, the iPhone 5C appears to be a slight upgrade over the iPhone 5. The iPhone 5C with the 16GB model priced at $99 and the 32GB version costing $199 (with two-year contract).
Keynote
Apple never wanted to get consumers by giving competing prices for its products. They believe that the iPhone 5S and 5C can keep Apple's position as a premium smartphone vendor with services that are best in its class.
Apple also believe that there are many potential consumers who are willing to pay to get their hands on fingerprint security, faster processor and unique camera features in the 5S, and the colorful style in the 5C.
How about the market share that has been a benchmark to other vendors like Samsung, Microsoft and BlackBerry? Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, has once stated that Apple does not worry about market share. Cook doesn't even care if Android has a bigger share as long as Apple's iPhone sales are increasing. Beside that, Cook is more interested in increasing the Apple's profit margin to about 40 percent for each iPhone the company sells.