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It may seem like just yesterday that the iPhone 5 was all shiny and new, but a year on Apple has discontinued the handset in favour of the iPhone 5S and 5C, two more additions to its successful line-up.
Both boast revamped hardware to compliment Apple’s new operating system iOS7, possibly one of Apple’s biggest redesigns to their iOS in years. However, as many of the technology giant’s loyal fans and eager first-time buyers rush to grab either handset, many iPhone owners like myself have been left juggling their existing handset wondering what’s the difference between the two new additions to the iPhone family and if either is worth rushing to buy.
Both the 5S and 5C sport a fresh reinvention of the already successful look and feel of previous models. Although sceptics like myself would have loved to see a completely new look with these newest additions, both still look and feel undeniably beautiful. The 5S, much like the 4S did, sticks close to the design of its predecessor. The main change in its aesthetic comes from the addition of three new carefully selected colours, a cool pastel gold, silver or grey built with glass and aluminium to mirror the sleek classiness of the original iPhone 5 handsets.
The 5C takes on a rather less expensive look with a thicker polycarbonate plastic shell that does, however, come in a full spectrum of colour. The 5C model can currently be found in bright and bold green, blue, yellow, pink and white. Arguably, new colours do not equate to new features, and could be satisfied just as well with the various and broad casing and cover options available for the iPhone.
The iPhone 5S, as the more expensive of the two new options, comes available at a SIM-free price of £549, £629 and £709 for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models. It sets itself up as the true next step in the iPhone family. Alternatively, the 5C, for the better part of its existence, is just a more colourful version of the original iPhone 5, coming in at a cheaper, but still relatively expensive, price of £469 for the 16GB model and £549 for the 32GB model. That said, the 5C only comes in slightly higher than the original iPhone 5 in terms of specs, with a very similar A6 processing chip and 8 megapixel camera featuring some of the added camera functions of the 5S such as panorama.
Unlike the 5C, the 5S is far more than just a colourful iPhone 5, and although both sport the same screen display of the original iPhone 5, the 5S pushes the specs of the original 5 handset forward in line with the gorgeously sleek and fluid iOS7 operating system. With an A7 CPU chip and M7 motion coprocessor that Apple boasts will make it almost twice as fast and powerful as the original iPhone 5 it’s clear that this is the true next step in the line-up of handsets from Apple. With the 5S, expect more dynamic, faster and visually impressive games that further screw a nail in the coffin of the suffering handheld console industry. Expect faster, more responsive apps capable of handling more advanced tasks and of course a better overall experience of iOS7. And expect further subtle refinements to the everyday user navigation of the phone’s software.
If you’re not particularly bothered about specs and would rather just have a cute and colourful new iPhone that has more visual personality than any iPhone before it, the 5C won’t disappoint. But the main game changer of the two is definitely the iPhone 5S, which also features touch ID, a whole brand new feature for the iPhone which allows the phone to store within itself and recognise finger prints via the small sensor ring around the home button.
This cool additional feature primarily adds a new layer of security by allowing users to unlock their phone and confirm their identity with their fingerprints currently, but may also in the future provide additional functions when exploited by developers. But in the meantime it is simply the icing on the cake for an already powerful and stylish phone.
So although neither handset is particularly ground-breaking in the world of smart phones, if you want a phone that is truly an upgrade from the already established brilliance of the iPhone 5, you’ll have to overlook the cute candy colourfulness of the 5C and step up to the 5S.
