The much rumored “affordable” iPhone is here – called the iPhone 5c. The Phone 5c sports a hard-coated polycarbonate body with a steel reinforced frame inside, for a solid, sturdy feel. The introduction of the polycarbonate body is something that is a rather interesting development, showing a major shift in the design philosophies. And so is the introduction of bright colours – blue, green, pink, yellow and white. The steel frame holds the internal components and also doubles as the iPhone 5c’s multiband antenna. The enclosure is one continuous and seamless structure that is finished with a hard coat for a durable and incredibly glossy surface.
The iPhone 5c carries forward most of the internals of the iPhone 5, but is thicker and heavier – 9mm vs. 7.6mm – and – 132g vs. 112g. The spec sheet – 4-inch Retina display (640 x 1136 pixels), Apple A6 chipset, iOS 7 out of the box, 8MP camera, 100Mbps LTE connectivity, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0. Like the new iPhone 5S, the iPhone 5c also supports 13 LTE bands.
“iPhone 5c is everything iPhone 5 was and more, in an all-new design packed with great features,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “iPhone 5c is designed with a beautiful polycarbonate enclosure that looks and feels so solid in your hand.”
To complement the all-new iPhone 5c design, Apple has created a lineup of soft, matte, microfiber-lined cases. These silicone cases will each feature unique circular patterns allowing the iPhone 5c’s colour to show through as well and with five iPhone 5c colours and six cases to choose from, Apple says you can mix and match for dozens of fun combinations. Each case has been priced at $29.
The iPhone 5c will be available for pre-order from September 13 onwards, and will cost $99 for the 16GB and $199 for the 32GB, with a 2-year mobile service provider contract. The phone will be available in stores from September 20th, and will be available in limited countries initially – US, China, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Singapore. Apple says that another 100 countries will get the iPhone 5c by December.