Apple always had some great devices in its lineup and every year, the list keeps expanding. This year’s addition was made on September 10 in an event at company’s headquarters. The event was led by the CEO Tim Cook and he started off by talking about the new version of iOS that is called the iOS 7. It will be available to iPhone 4 and the models that came out after it. The new version loses that 3D effect seen on the previous versions and goes for a simpler visual style. It will be available September 18 onwards.
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| Apple iPhone 5C |
Price:
There have been a lot of rumors about this affordable iPhone for a while and it comes in multiple colours like lime green, white, yellow, red and bright blue. While they use aluminum on iPhone 5 and 5S, this one is made out of plastic. The hardware is as impressive as it was on the iPhone 5 and it isn’t a bad hardware at all. In US, it will be available with a two year contract for $99 for 16 GB and $199 for 32 GB version.
A Gift to India
This can be a very important device for markets like India for various reasons. In countries like United States, United Kingdom and Australia, you get the device for a relatively low price, as compared to the contract free version, from your operator. This makes every new device available at 199 dollars and a two year contract with the operator. The prices of older models are pushed down to 99 dollars or sometimes they are available for just the price of contract and no initial cost. However the story is not very similar in India.
Here we don’t get devices from operators with a contract and most people have to get the device unlocked. Even if they get the locked version from an operator, most of the times they have to pay the price in full. Operators like Airtel and Aircel tried to start a similar trend by bringing in the option of getting the iPhone with a contract but it didn’t work well. The initial price was still too steep and the customer had to pay almost half of the price initially. So expect the iPhone 5S to cost a lot, at least a number north of the iPhone 5 price.
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| iPhone 5C - Rear |
The iPhone 5C however would be a mid-range device. They have cut costs on it and thus it would come at a lower price tag without a contract or operator restriction. There are a lot of Apple fans but paying over 40-45K for a phone is not really easy for everyone. Yes there was an option to go for the version that is going out but who really wants to buy an out dated device. The iPhone 5C has the same hardware as the iPhone 5 but the contract free price would be much lower.
Display
The new iPhone 5C has the same 4 inch retina display from the iPhone 5 having a resolution of 1136 x 640 pixels. It gives a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch. It runs the Apple A6 chipset with a dual core processor. It would have the same RAM and GPU as the iPhone 5 which makes it a pretty capable hardware. It has an 8 megapixel camera with all the high end bells and whistles that you can expect from Apple. It will be available in two storage options 16 and 32 GB & will run the same iOS version, iOS 7 as on the other iPhone variants.
Size:
The size has gone up a bit over the iPhone 5 and it is a bit fatter at 8.96 mm. Still the device would be easy to handle as they have kept the weight down, at just 132 gms. They don’t miss out on features like scratch resistant glass and oleophobic coating & the iPhone 5C carries the features forward. It doesn’t miss out on any sensors and you get the same equipment as on iPhone 5.
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| Apple iPhone 5C |
Budget Friendly
So this budget friendly iPhone is not a low end device at all and would give a good competition to the mid-range android counterparts. The contract free pricing is not clear yet but we are expecting it to be priced around 30K in our market. It might still be a big number but comparing it to iPhone 5’s current cost, it feels like a bargain. The usage of plastic makes it more rugged and less delicate. Also there are multiple colours on offer which would give people wider options to choose from. Until now we were forced to choose from an iPhone either black or white.
Conclusion
The new devices won’t make it to India very soon as they will be first made available in some markets on September 20 and then they will make it to rest of the world. The iPhone 5C is expected to make things tough for other players in the Indian mobile market. The device looks funky and as the Apple CEO says, it is “More fun and colorful”. They might have used plastic here but don’t expect it to feel cheaply build at all. Apple knows how to design their devices well and ensure that they look premium.
We are yet to see how they are going to price this new affordable iPhone but it surely looks promising. Especially in markets like India where most people go for the unlocked devices. It will be a great device for people who love Apple devices but have been held back by the steep price.
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