Apple to release two new iPhones
BY ED COLLINS
Find out what's happening in Deerfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Apple is offering two new iPhones for sale this week for two separate markets, as well as a new upgraded mobile operating system for its iPhones and iPads.
Find out what's happening in Deerfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
A pricey, top of the line iPhone 5S with lots of the latest high tech bells and whistles goes on sale at the Northbrook Apple Store and elsewhere on Friday, Sept. 20.
The other is the economical 5C model that many have been waiting for. Some wags say the C stands for “cheap” although Apple staff informally suggests the word “colorful.” The new 5C has already drawn fire from some critics for not being cheap enough to attract the less affluent overseas buyers.
The 5S is an improvement over the previous iPhone 5. It has a faster A7 processor, and a new optional dual system fingerprint scanner that upon touch unlocks your iPhone without requiring password usage (although the phone still retains the password system as an option).
Other 5S attributes include an improved camera, a new iOS 7 operating system, and a longer-lasting battery. It comes in three colors: gold, silver and dark gray.
“This is our most forward-thinking phone yet,” Phil Schiller says, who heads up Apple’s worldwide marketing efforts.
The 5C basically contains last year’s iPhone 5 technologies, but offers a larger battery and a rainbow of several colorful models in a cheaper hard plastic casing instead of the aluminum cover used in the 5S and previous models.
You can buy the 16 GB storage iPhone 5S with a $199 plus a two-year wireless contract. The 5C can be purchased domestically for $99 also with a two- year service contract at most carriers.
Competition in the smartphone field has become fierce. Apple has been losing ground overseas to South Korea’s Samsung Electronics. They currently control 32 percent of the Android market overseas to Apple’s 19 percent, according to recent Gartner research studies.
And prices are falling. Samsung is offering attractive smartphone prices at less than $100 in China, India and Indonesia without carrier subsidies. To purchase Apple’s new iPhone 5C in China it could cost about $733, and that’s without a carrier subsidy. The question is can Apple compete with a quality product in such a volatile cutthroat marketplace?
However, the expanding global smartphone marketplace is all the rage nowadays. It’s expected to reach $290 billion by the end of this year.
