At a media event held today at their official California headquarters, Apple introduced their next-gen iPhone 5s alongside the new iPhone 5c. And yes, it contains a fingerprint scanner, and there is a gold model available!
The iPhone 5S will be available in silver, a new “space gray,” and gold. Of course, the new handset runs iOS 7, and as expected, resembles the iPhone 5 in many ways. here’s a rundown of some of the new features and specs.
From the official press release:
Apple® today announced iPhone® 5s, the most forward-thinking iPhone yet, featuring an all-new A7 chip, making iPhone 5s the world’s first smartphone with 64-bit desktop-class architecture for blazing fast performance in the palm of your hand. iPhone 5s redefines the best smartphone experience in the world with amazing new features all packed into a remarkable thin and light design, including an all-new 8 megapixel iSight® camera with True Tone flash and introducing Touch ID™, an innovative way to simply and securely unlock your phone with just the touch of a finger. iPhone 5s comes with iOS 7, the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone, engineered for 64-bit technology and featuring hundreds of great new features, including Control Center, Notification Center, improved Multitasking, AirDrop®, enhanced Photos, Safari®, Siri® and iTunes Radio℠.
CPU and Graphics
It is powered by the new A7 64-bit processor, which Apple claims is a first for the smartphone world. While developers will be able to write for the 64-bit, the processor will run older 32-bit apps with no problem. Apple claims there is a 40x bump in performance and an “up to 56x” bump in graphics performance! The new hardware also includes support for OpenGL ES 3.0.
Apple also introduced the new M7 chip. It works alongside the A7, and acts a “motion co-processor.” It measures the accelerometer, compass, and gyroscope. It will tell apps if you’re stationary, walking, driving, etc. Nike is going to take advantage of it with a new app called “Nike+ Move.” The app will use the A7, M7, and the GPS, as well as Nike Fuel Points, and is integrated into the Game Center.
Battery Life
The iPhone 5S will feature 10 hours of 3G talk time, 10 hours LTE browsing, and up to 250 hours of standby (which Apple says is significantly more than the iPhone 5).
Camera
The iPhone 5S will feature a new, five-element Apple-designed lens with an F2.2 aperture. A 15% larger active area on the sensor will ensure higher quality pictures, while the actual “megapixel” rating remains the same. The new camera app automatically sets white balance, exposure, creates a “dynamic local tone map,” and “autofocus matrix metering” with 15 zones. It also automatically takes multiple photos and picks the best. The camera also features a new burst mode, which captures 10 photos per second.
True-tone flash – The new flash has two LEDs. One is cool and white, the other is warm and amber. The camera combines the two to get the right color balance from the flash. Video: For the first time, Apple has enabled slow-motion video capture with a new feature called “Slow-Mo.”. The feature captures 120fps HD video at 720p.
Touch ID (Fingerprint Sensor)
The fingerprint sensor is real. Apple calls the new fingerprint recognition feature Touch ID. The sensor measures at 170 microns thin, senses 500 ppi, and scans your sub-epidermal skin layers – and it’s built right into the Home button. The ring around the Home button is the detection ring that turns on the Touch ID sensor.
The Home button is made of sapphire to resist scratches. Simply touch your Home button to unlock your iPhone. It can also be used to authenticate things in apps, like purchases in iTunes. All fingerprint information is encrypted, and secured inside a secure enclave. For security purposes, your fingerprint data is never uploaded to Apple’s servers or backed up to iCloud.
While it currently only works in official Apple apps to sign into the iTunes store, I see a lot of possibility for the feature in the future.
Pricing and Availability
The iPhone 5S starts at $199 for a 16GB model, 32GB is $299, 64GB is $399 on a two-year contract. New colorful cases will also be available for the iPhone 5S. Unfortunately, there will be NO preorders available for the iPhone 5S, and sales will begin in Apple’s retails stores on September 20th. Check out Apple’s official iPhone 5S page for more details!
For even more details on all of Apple’s announcements, make sure to check out our roundup of everything Apple announced today at their event!
