Apple announces iPhone 5S & iPhone 5C

Apple has just dropped the details one their next generation iphone models and this time around we have not one but 2 variants, well the iphone 5C is just a rebadged iphone 5 in a colorful polycarbonate shell. The 5c sill have support fot global LTE and will come in 16 and 32GB configurations. Both will be cost $100 and $200 respectively on a 2 year contract.

Now that we have got that out of the way, onward to the real bit of news, iPhone 5S. Not much has changed on the outside from last year’s model as it looks almost identical at a glance. However quite a lot has changed on the inside.

For starters the 5S is powered by apples new 64-bit A7 system on a chip (SoC). Apple claims that the new A7 chip is 2x faster than the old clunker that powered the iphone 5 both in computational power and graphics performance. The A7 also brings with it OpenGL ES 3.0 support allowing game developers to push the limits of graphical quality.

The A7 is supplemented by what apple is calling the M7. This is basically a low powered co-processor designed to handle all sensor data in real time. What this simply means is the M7 chip will continuously monitor data coming in from the accelerometer, gyroscope compass, ambient light sensor etc.

Next up is the camera. Sporting a larger sensor and a f/2.2 aperture add that to a dual-element flash that apple is calling “True Tone”. This allows the flash to match its output to over 1,000 different colour temperatures, the end result….more natural looking colours when using the camera flash. The main thing that got my attention however was the ability to record 720p video at 120 FPS! What does this mean you ask, well it allows for slow-motion video recording. Simply record at 120FPS and playback at 30FPS.

Onward to what Apple believes is the icing on the cake, the Pièce de résistance, “Touch ID”.This what apple is calling this new feature. What it is I basically a figure print scanner located inside the home button. This presents a host of new security features, namely the ability lock your phone with your figure print or using your figure print as a means to authenticate purchased content. 

The iphone 5S will be available in the usual storage configurations 16,32 and 64 GB at $200, $300 and $400 respectively on a 2 year contract. The 5S will be available in 3 colours; Gold, Silver and Gray. Both the 5C and 5S will be available on September 20^th.