Devices launching in the UK, going on sale on September 20th; fingerprint ‘Touch ID’ included on the 5S
Apple yesterday night unveiled the iPhone 5S and 5C at an event taking place at its headquarters in California.
Both handsets will be available to pre-order from this Friday (September 13), and will go on sale in the UK a week later on September 20.
The 5S will be available in gold, silver and grey and will cost £549 for the 16GB model, £629 for the 32GB model and £709 for the 64GB model. Cases will be available in black, beige, blue, brown, yellow and red for £35 each.
The 5C will come in five colours – white, blue, green, pink and yellow and will cost £469 for the 16GB model and £549 for the 32GB model. Cases will be available in black, white, blue, yellow, green and pink, costing £25 each.
Both phones will come pre-loaded with iOS 7, the latest update to Apple’s operating system that was announced in June. iOS 7 will be free to download from September 18, available on models from the iPhone 4 upwards, iPad 2 upwards, iPad Mini and fifth generation iPod Touch.
iPhone 5S
The aluminium-coated iPhone 5S is powered by Apple’s new A7 chip, making it the first 64-bit smartphone, which the manufacturer says is twice as fast as the iPhone 5. It also has a four-inch Retina display.
Included is a new M7 motion co-processor that gathers data from the accelerometer, gyroscope and compass to identify user movement that can tell if the user is stationary or moving.
Apple has introduced fingerprint recognition for the first time. ‘Touch ID’ is built into the home button on the smartphone and uses a laser cut sapphire crystal and capacitive touch sensor to take a high resolution image of the user’s fingerprint, analysing it to provide readings from all angles.
Touch ID can also be used to make purchases from the Apple iTunes Store, App Store or iBooks Store. All fingerprint information is encrypted.
The iPhone 5S has an eight megapixel camera that features an Apple-designed lens with f/2.2 aperture, which the manufacturer said provides a 15 per cent larger sensor area than found on the iPhone 5. It added the improvements to the camera provide two-times faster auto-focus, photo capture and automatic image and video stabilisation.
It has a ‘True Tone’ dual-LED flash on the rear that adjusts colour and intensity for over 1,000 combinations. Also included is a new Burst Mode, HD video recording, slow-motion video with 120fps and a FaceTime HD camera for video calling.
The smartphone supports up to 13 4G wireless bands – more than any other smartphone. It delivers 10 hours of 3G talk time, up to 10 hours of web browsing on Wi-Fi and 4G networks and up to eight hours on 3G networks, up to 10 hours of video playback and 40 hours of audio playback.
iPhone 5C
The plastic-coated iPhone 5C, which has a steal-reinforced frame, is powered by Apple’s A6 chip and has a four inch Retina display.
Like the iPhone 5S, it has an eight megapixel iSight camera with 3x zoom, can record widescreen video and also has the new FaceTime HD camera for video calls.
Also identical to the iPhone 5S is the fact that it supports up to 13 LTE wireless bands, and delivers 10 hours of 3G talk time, 10 hours of web browsing on Wi-Fi and 4G networks and up to eight hours on 3G networks, and up to 10 hours of video playback and up to 40 hours of audio playback.