Apple will be releasing the new iPhone this month; we're days away from Apple's announcement of the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C. When it comes to smartphones, the first few months of 2013 moved the proverbial goalposts. Android handsets flourished with Full HD screens, aluminium or glass unibodies and every feature under the sun.
Apple's iPhone 5 has been on the scene for a while now but its thunder is in danger of being stolen by the Android Army.
The new iPhone is expected to come in more than two colours as did the older models of slate-black and silver-white colors. Yes, at long last, it looks like Apple is finally kowtowing to the consumers who have been begging for a cheaper iPhone for years. The rumored iPhone 5S specs, except for the possibility of an integrated fingerprint scanner, aren't all that exciting, however.
Let's dive straight into what we know (and don't know) about the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C.
Its expected Apple will use the A6X chip currently found in the latest iPad. However, the latest rumours suggest Apple could be working on an A7 chip for the forthcoming iPad 5.
In years gone by, Apple has previously worked with Samsung to produce processors for it's iPhone range. But, given the recent legal tussles between the two companies, many speculate that Apple will want to distance itself from the Korean company. Some rumours have hinted at an Intel chip being included in the next iteration of the iPhone.
The best leaks currently peg the iPhone 5S's hardware as a somewhat incremental upgrade of the iPhone 5. There will the same dual-core CPU but clocked or rated a bit higher, an upgraded quad-core SGX544MP4 GPU, 2GB of RAM, and an IGZO screen which helps for increased brightness and/or reduced power consumption invariably prolonging the battery life. The camera should be bumped up to 12 or 13 -megapixels, and there should be a dual-LED flash. Perhaps most significantly, it currently looks like there will be a champagne light gold and graphite variant of the iPhone 5S.
In terms of storage, there is the strong possibility of Apple launching a new phone with 128GB storage – similar to the latest iPad upgrade.
Meanwhile Jeffries analyst Peter Misek told Business Insider that he believes the iPhone 5S will feature a "Super HD screen" along with a range of colours similar to the iPod Touch range. Considering all the top Android handsets feature Full HD displays, we reckon its unlikely Apple will launch the iPhone 5S with anything less than a 1,920 x 1,080 pixel resolution.
In terms of new features, the iPhone 5S will seemingly have NFC and a fingerprint reader. NFC functionality isn't all that surprising, considering many Android phones have supported it for two years or more. The fingerprint reader is an interesting rumor that hasn't gone away since Apple acquired Authentec, which has lots of fingerprint scanning-related IP. A recent rumor suggests that the Apple will use a sapphire glass Home button, with a fingerprint reader underneath it. Sapphire glass is very durable, which is one of the selling point —sapphire glass is probably a bit overkil
