"A couple of you may have been expecting this."
Those were the words of Apple CEO Tim Cook moments before he unveiled the new iPhone 5S to the world during the company's press event today. It put to rest a number of rumors but also left the crowd in attendance wanting more. The quick recap involved two new iPhones, the death of the iPhone 5, and launch dates for both and iOS 7. Here is a more in-depth roundup.
iPhone 5S
Headlining the event is the iPhone 5S. Now available in gold, silver and black, the new smartphone is a radical upgrade on the inside from its previous incarnations. On the outside it still has the same aluminum body and two-tone design, a 4-inch display and comparability with all existing iPhone 5 cases.
The inside is where things get different. The device is powered by a new A7 processor which is a 64-bit chip—the first of its kind in any smartphone phone. This makes it twice as fast as the iPhone 5 and 40 times faster than the original iPhone. It also runs Open ES 3.0, which makes the graphics performance 56 times faster than original iPhone. The A7 chip has 3x general-purpose registers, 2x floating-point registers and over a billion transistors.
There is also a new M7 "motion co-processor" which continuous measures motion data with an accelerometer, gyroscope and compass support, which will enable a new generation of health and fitness apps.
The fingerprint scanner was also confirmed. Built into the home button, the "Touch ID" technology allows users (yes, multiple users) to unlock their phone and authenticate iTunes purchases by scanning their thumb.
The camera will also see a major update with an improved f/2.2 aperture, a 15 percent larger sensor and 8-megapixels. The dual-LED flash—one white, one amber—makes pictures look more natural and balanced. It also features auto stabilization and a new burst mode to capture 10 frames per second. The video camera is upgraded with slow-motion capabilities and records at 720p video at 120FPS.
Other specs and items of note include:
- 10-hour talk time
- 10-hour LTE browsing
- 250 hours standby
- 16GB, 32GB and 64GB
- Available September 20
- Prices start at $199 with a two-year contract
iPhone 5C
The iPhone 5C is the rumored "cheaper" version that has been speculated about for some time, made out of a curved hard-coated polycarbonate plastic back that comes in blue, green, white, yellow and red.
"iPhone 5C is beautifully, unapologetically plastic," Apple design guru Jony Ive said in a video shown at the event.
On the inside, the 5C is basically the iPhone 5. However it does have an upgraded front-facing HD camera and can handle all of the new camera features of iOS 7.
The new phone starts at $100 with a two-year contract and $200 for a 32GB model. Pre-order will start on September 13 and the phone will be available on September 20.
Other things of note
There were other smaller and underplayed announcements made by the company during the press event.
- iWork suite (Keynote, Pages, Numbers), iPhone and iMovie are now free on mobile devices
- iOS 7 will be available September 18
- The iPhone 5 will no longer be produced. Line up includes iPhone 4S, 5C and 5S
- 30 pin connector is dead as all new devices use lightening connector
Over the next two weeks, companies will surely be inundated with new iPhones as employees bring their new devices into the office. An IT consulting firm that specializes in Mac integration can help any company do this successfully.
