iPhone 5c vs iPhone 5: What's changed?

So, you’ve read our iPhone 5c preview, learnteverything you need to know about the colourful device and now you’re wondering whether it should become your smartphone of choice. But you’re already packing an iPhone 5 – is it worth the upgrade? We’re about to find out…

Does the iPhone 5c deserve your cash? Should you upgrade from your iPhone 5? Read on and find out...   Apple iPhone 5c vs Apple iPhone 5: Build The main difference between these two phones is easy to spot and mainly focuses on the build of the device. While the iPhone 5 was constructed out of aluminium – the same as the more expensive 5s, the 5c is built using one piece of sturdy polycarbonate plastic. While initially plastic may not seem very Apple, it helps add an extra layer of durability to the device, especially as so many people ended up with scuffed up iPhone 5’s after a few months of use. The plastic, which is similar to what Apple used on the iPhone 3G and 3GS a few years ago, also enabled more creativity and the ability to ship the phone in a range of bright, solid colours. Apple has also bucked the trend by simply naming the colours after, well… the actual colour. You won’t find Oatmeal Beige here; instead it’s just white, green, pink, blue and yellow.    Glass still covers the front of the phone, so you can’t be clumsy with it or you'll end up with a crack covered screen. Under the plastic shell, the iPhone 5c is reinforced with a steel structure, adding an extra shot of durability. The downside of this though is the increase in weight, which rises from 112g on the iPhone 5 to 132g on the iPhone 5c. Apple iPhone 5c vs Apple iPhone 5: Display No differences in this department to speak of, both the iPhone 5c and the iPhone 5s boast the same 4-inch, quite tall display with a resolution of 640 x 1136 and a ppi of 326. The iPhone 5 had a sharp display, which reproduced colour well and ensured text was pin-sharp. Viewing angles were impressive too and it’s a breath of fresh air to see a phone stick to a relatively small display Apple iPhone 5c vs Apple iPhone 5: Battery Apple claim you should be able to get around 10 hours of 3G talk time from the 5c, a nice little improvement over the eight hours they quoted for the original 5. Standby time has been upped as well, leaping from 225 hours to 250 hours – another neat addition. We’ll have to fully test the battery life of the colourful iPhone 5c when we do our full review. Apple iPhone 5c vs Apple iPhone 5: Camera We were big fans of the iSight camera on the iPhone 5. It took great snaps, in a range of conditions and with no fiddly menus to work through. Just flick up from the lock-screen and you’re away. That same 8-megapixel camera is present on the 5c, with the same f/2.4 aperture and LED flash. iOS7 does add some extra camera features, like live effects and a square shoot mode, but these will also be available on the iPhone 5. Image stabilisation has been added to video recording, so your 1080p movies will look a tad more professional. A number of improvements though have been made to the HD FaceTime camera on the front. This now has an improved backside illuminated sensor, for better performance in darker conditions. Apple iPhone 5c vs Apple iPhone 5: Connectivity When the iPhone 5 shipped last year it was the first of Apple’s smartphones to come touting 4G LTE connectivity. Fast forward a year and LTE in the UK has finally started to get moving, with Vodafone and O2 joining EE as the operators who currently provide the super fast service. The iPhone 5c brings with it support for more LTE bands, so you’ll be able to use it on both O2 and Vodafone, something not possible with the 5. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and the Lightning connector are all still present, as is the bottom mounted headphone port. Apple iPhone 5c vs Apple iPhone 5: Processor Both the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 5c have the same internals, comprising of a custom A6 chip and 1GB RAM. The iPhone 5 was a snappy beast – with everything from scrolling through menus to browsing web-pages being a pain-free experience. Apple iPhone 5c vs Apple iPhone 5: iOS7 Apple announced that the iOS7 update will be downloadable from September 18, so you’re iPhone 5 will benefit from all the new software features and redesigned look. There aren’t any features in the software which will only work on the iPhone 5c as opposed to the iPhone 5. Another useful addition, if you’re planning on picking up a shiny new 5c, is that all iWork, iMovie and iPhoto apps will be free. You’d previously have to fork out over 20 quid for these. Apple iPhone 5c vs Apple iPhone 5: Overall Are you a fan of colourful phones? Are you happy with the internals of the iPhone 5? If you answered yes to both those questions then the iPhone 5c is the perfect device for you. It definitely is not the cheap phone many were expecting, but then Apple doesn’t do cheap. Instead they’ve crafted a great looking device, still strongly specced that comes in at a slightly lower price point than the flagship iPhone 5s. We’re sure this is going to sell in droves, while opening the Apple ecosystem up to a load of new people. However, if you're already carrying an iPhone 5, there's really nothing here to make it worth shelling out the extra cash for, apart from the colourful coating. Prices: 16GB - £469 32GB - £549  Looking for a comparison of the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c? Check out the video below..

iPhone 5c price disappointment: 'Cheaper iPhone' fails to check-in

Apple unveiled two new iPhones at a special event held at its Cupertino headquarters on Tuesday. It announced iPhone 5s, successor to the iPhone 5, which comes with a lot of new features like a brand new A7 processor, the first 64-bit chip inside a smartphone, improved camera, and, the highlight of the device, a fingerprint-scanner called Touch ID.

Apple also unveiled iPhone 5c, which was widely anticipated to be the low-cost iPhone, but it turned out to be a big disappointment on that aspect. While the iPhone 5c boasts impressive hardware specifications and comes in a wide variety of colours, the key criteria for this iPhone was always going to be the price, and this is where it disappoints.

The iPhone 5c was supposed to be Apple's weapon to take on Android in at least the mid-level smartphone segment, if an entry-level pricing was never going to come to fruition. However, one look at the off-contract pricing for the iPhone 5s in various regions, and all those hopes can be put to rest.

The entry-level 16GB iPhone 5c without a contract has been priced at $549 in the US. That comes out to a whopping Rs. 35,000 at current exchange rates (1 USD = 63.65 INR) and does not include the duties and other charges that come in while pricing a product in India. If you were hoping for a sub-Rs. 25,000 pricing for the iPhone 5c in India, it's safe to say we won't see anything like that.

The pricing in other regions is even worse, with the iPhone 5c priced at 599 euros (approximately Rs. 50,500) in Germany and 469 pounds in the UK (approximately Rs. 47,000). Of course both those prices include VAT, which can be sizeable. Pricing in Hong Kong is HKD 4,688 (approximately Rs. 38,500). However, it's the pricing in China, one of two "emerging markets" - the other being India - that the iPhone 5c was said to be targeting that is really surprising. The iPhone 5c price in China is 4488 Chinese Yuan Renminbi, which works out to over Rs. 46,500, without duties or any other charges.

With just a $100 price difference between the iPhone 5c and the iPhone 5s, it's a little difficult to fathom why the iPhone 5c even exists. The iPhone 5c surely won't help Apple penetrate into any newer markets, and its only selling point seems to the number of colours it's available in.

It seems Apple is not willing to shed its 'premium' tag just yet, and that, more than anything else from Tuesday's event. will surely disappoint millions who were hoping to see Apple in a more 'affordable' avatar.

Apple unveils iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s

Apple Inc introduced two new iPhones on Tuesday including the "iPhone 5c" that comes in five colors and starts at $99 with a contract, priced to bring one of the industry's costliest smartphones within reach of the masses in poorer emerging markets.

Chief Executive Tim Cook kicked off the event at the company's Cupertino headquarters which also ushered in the pricier iPhone 5s. Shares in Apple, which had been in negative territory most of the morning, briefly went positive and were down just 0.5 percent at $503.48.

Cook expects Apple to ship the 700 millionth device - an iPhone or iPad - based on iOS mobile software sometime next month.

The world's most valuable technology company is trying to beat back rivals like Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd in markets like India and China, where it is quickly losing ground.

Wall Street approves of the move to offer a more basic version of the device, although some investors warned initially that it would reduce margins and potentially tarnish a brand that has been linked to premium users since its 2007 inception.

Now they hope a bigger emerging-market presence can help reverse a 29 percent fall in the company's share price since it hit a record high of $702.10 a year ago. The selloff was fueled by fears of slowing growth and a perception that Apple's ability to innovate and shake up industries was dwindling.

The new iPhones, coupled with a belief that Apple will announce a deal with the world's largest carrier in China, have spurred investors to build bullish share and options positions in the company over the past two weeks.

Also sparking Apple's upward momentum was hedge fund billionaire Carl Icahn's revelation last month that he had taken a large position and was pushing for the company to expand its program of share buybacks.

He has said the stock may rise to as much as $700 if Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook pushed for a larger buyback. The shares were down 0.5 percent at $503.64 in morning trading.

Industry observers said Apple had not turned out a category-defining electronic device since late co-founder Steve Jobs made a bet on the iPad in 2010. Speculation revolves around a smartwatch along the same lines as Samsung's recently introduced Galaxy Gear, or some sort of TV product.

But analysts said neither was likely to generate numbers anywhere in the neighborhood of the iPhone, which supplies half of Apple's revenue and is the company's highest-margin product.

"Apple needs to demonstrate in the coming months that it has other product lines which can start to make up for slowing growth and falling margins in (the) iPhone and iPad," said Jan Dawson, a chief telecoms analyst for Ovum Research. "That's a tall order."

More immediately, Apple will get a boost if it succeeds in enlisting China Mobile Ltd in its iPhone network. For the first time, the company will host media in Beijing just nine hours after its Cupertino, California, launch, spurring speculation it will announce a distribution agreement with the Chinese carrier.

The world's largest wireless carrier serves more than 740 million users and is perceived as more amenable to carrying the popular smartphone now that profit and subscriber growth are decelerating. Net income grew just 2 percent in the quarter that ended in June.

And smaller rivals China Unicom and China Telecom, which both already sell Apple's iPhone are making headway against the market leader.

Separately, Japan's largest carrier, NTT DoCoMo, is expected to begin selling it as soon as this fall, other sources said.

One key question is whether Apple will also sell its cheaper iPhone 5c in more mature markets like Europe or the United States, heightening the risk that it will begin cannibalizing sales of the flagship 5s.

Globally, the market for cheaper smartphones priced around $300 - the iPhone 5 now starts at $649 without a contract - may grow to 900 million units by 2015, Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi estimated. Assuming Apple manages to capture just 10 percent of that market, the 5c would bring in revenue of $30 billion annually.

"The only real potential to surprise investors (on Tuesday) seems to be in the scope and velocity of a new China strategy, and any new features within iOS 7 and fingerprint scanner technology," said Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes.

"Since it missed the trend toward larger screened phones and seems poised for only incremental iPad improvements, we believe that Apple needs to prove it can innovate in software and services."

iPhone 5C logic board reportedly leaks, not dissimilar to iPhone 5

Judging by leaked photos this weekend, Apple isn't making too many internal changes for the iPhone 5C handset, in order to keep build costs down

If you're into this sort of thing, the photo above purportedly shows the front and back of the forthcoming iPhone 5C's logic board component.  The photos, which have emerged on Chinese social networking site Weibo and picked up by AppleInsider, show a component extremely similar to the equivalent part of the current iPhone 5. According to the report, there are only a few 'slight tweaks.' Although it's difficult to read too much into the leaked photo, the consensus seems to be that this means that the internals for the so-called budget iPhone 5C device will be kept similar to the iPhone 5 for the purpose of keeping the cost down. Recent reports and leaks have suggested the iPhone 5C will also have a plastic case in a multitude of bright colours, which should also enable Apple to sell the device for less than its premium iPhone 5S handset. It seems almost certain that Apple will unleash the iPhone 5C at its launch event on September 10 at its Cupertino campus. The phone is thought to be landing in the UK on September 27, a week after the iPhone 5S launch, giving Apple the opportunity to enjoy two successive weekends of big sales, rather than bundling both releases into one queue-inducing few days. Speculation has suggested the device will have an 8-megapixel camera andcost anywhere between £230 and £320 depending on the storage space. Is the iPhone 5C on your radar? Can Apple's first non-premium smartphone bring home the bacon? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.