After months of speculation, the long rumored midrange Apple iPhone 5C made its debut alongside its flagship sibling the Apple iPhone 5S. The iPhone 5C specs include a 4 inch Retina touch display, up to 32GB of internal storage, an 8 megapixel BSI camera and will be powered by an Apple A6 processor with 1GB of RAM.If the specs sound familiar, its because the iPhone 5C has the same specifications from the Apple iPhone 5, but they are now packaged in an array of bright and attractive colors.
Apple has chosen to build the iPhone 5C using durable polycarbonate enforced with a steel frame, which doubles as an antenna for the device. The devices will be made available in a variety of colors to suite every taste - Blue, White, Pink, Yellow and Green. The iPhone 5C is reasonably thin, at 0.35 inch (8.97 mm), yet not thinner than the more premium iPhone 5S. The material choice has made the device fairly light at 4.65 ounces (132 grams), but it definitely isn't the lightest device in the market, even with its plastic body. On the software side, iOS 7.0 allows you to select a wallpaper to match the color of your smartphone, which can be quite fun.
The iPhone 5C features a 4 inch Retina Display with a 640 by 1136 pixel resolution. The display has the usual high brightness, precise sRGB color representation, good viewing angles and low reflection levels. Apple is offering the device in 16GB and 32GB variants, allowing the users to select the higher end iPhone 5S if they want more storage. An 8 megapixel iSight camera can be found in the rear with LED flash to help in those low light situations. A secondary FaceTime camera can be found in the front for video calls and selfies. Apple said the iPhone 5C carries a cellular modem with more LTE bands than any other smartphone, so it should be a rather global device out of the box.
The iPhone 5C will be priced at $99 for its 16GB variant, while the 32GB model will cost you $199 on contract. You can pre-order the device starting September 13th with availability to follow on September 20th. Off contract the iPhone 5C seems somewhat pricey at $549 for the 16GB version, and $649 for the 32GB units. We hope that Apple will reduce the pricing when the unlocked devices hit the market later this year.
"Soft-feel silicone rubber" cases are available for the iPhone 5C at $29 apiece, and these have circular cutout patterns, so you can see the original handset color underneath.
While the iPhone 5C attempts to market itself as an affordable device, it is infact a rebranded Apple iPhone 5. Apple has just carefully hidden last year's hardware behind a new cheaper color palette hoping to win over a new generation of iPhone users. Are you happy with the iPhone 5C? Is this the iPhone you have been waiting for?