Ultra high end 5s and mid tier 5c to hit the stores on 20 September
Apple has announced the new iPhone 5s, a top of the range smartphone for true Apple devotees, and for the first time a second iPhone designed for buyers that want a simple step up from iPhone 5, the iPhone 5c. Apple also announced the release of iOS 7, a major operating system update plus for the low end market, a new iPhone 4S 8GB model.
The iPhone 5s is being billed by Apple as the most forward thinking smartphone in the world. It features a brand new design 64-bit A7 chip, making iPhone 5s the world's first smartphone with 64-bit desktop-class architecture for ultra fast performance.
It also includes fingerprint biometric security for the first time with Touch ID, which uses a laser cut sapphire crystal, together with the capacitive touch sensor, to take a high resolution image of your fingerprint and intelligently analyse it to provide accurate readings from any angle.
iPhone 5s comes in a thin and light design, including a new eight megapixel iSight camera with True Tone flash. Every iPhone 5s includes the new M7 motion coprocessor that gathers data from the accelerometer, gyroscope and compass to offload work from the A7 for improved power efficiency.
iPhone 5s comes with iOS 7, which Apple stated is the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone, engineered for 64-bit technology and featuring hundreds of great new features, including Control Centre, Notification Centre, improved Multitasking, AirDrop, enhanced Photos, Safari, Siri and iTunes Radio.
'iPhone 5s is the most forward thinking smartphone in the world, delivering desktop class architecture in the palm of your hand,' said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing. 'iPhone 5s sets a new standard for smartphones, packed into its beautiful and refined design are breakthrough features that really matter to people, like Touch ID, a simple and secure way to unlock your phone with just a touch of your finger.'
The colourful iPhone 5c is a step up from iPhone 5, and will be available in blue, green, pink, yellow and white. It is built on a foundation of Apple features people know and love like the four inch Retina display, fast performance with the A6 chip, and the eight megapixel iSight camera, plus good battery life. iPhone 5c comes with more LTE bands than any other smartphone in the world, a new FaceTime HD camera, and iOS 7.
'iPhone 5c is everything iPhone 5 was and more, in an all-new design packed with great features,' remarked Schiller. 'iPhone 5c is designed with a beautiful polycarbonate enclosure that looks and feels so solid in your hand.'
iOS 7, featuring a completely redesigned stunning new user interface, will be available starting Wednesday 18 September to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users as a free software update.
Both new devices will be available in the UK, US, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, and Singapore on 20 September. iPhone 5s will be available in gold, silver or Space Grey, and will in the UK will be sold at a suggested retail price of £549 (£457.50 ex VAT) for the 16GB model and £629 (£524.17 ex VAT) for the 32GB model and £709 (£590.83 ex VAT) for the 64GB model.
iPhone 5c will cost £469 (£390.83 ex VAT) for the 16GB model and £549 (£457.50 ex VAT) for the 32GB model. The new iPhone 4S 8GB model will also be available for £349 (£290.83 ex VAT).
Smart Chimps thinks: Apple has gone an interesting way with its launches this year. We all thought it would provide a device designed specifically to be sold cheaply to developing markets; instead it surprised us with two devices that have gone almost in the opposite direction. The run of the mill iPhone 5c seems to be for people that are looking for an update to an older model without significant changes, or the ultra top of the range iPhone 5s for real tech-heads. For the lower end of the market Apple has come out with a new iPhone 4S 8GB model however, which while not really cheap, should provide a type of entry level step for the Chinese middle classes. In terms of innovation, iOS 7 sounds interesting, and we are liking the biometrics side of things. More detail on both devices to follow…
