The iPhone 5C is a curious little phone… only because it's released
by Apple. Were Samsung hawking this new device as its budget option then
we wouldn't even bat an eyelid, but because it's Apple we're a little
bit more circumspect. Can the company that prides itself on premium
devices compete in this lower-cost segment?
Actually, it's a
little unfair to say Apple can't compete at the lower end, as it's shown
that with the iPod mini / nano that it can offer products to consumers
at a lower cost without compromising too much on build quality.
Although we won't mention the original iPod shuffle…
The
iPhone 5C features an all-new polycarbonate casing, with a design
that's hewn from a single block of plastic with a steel cage thrust in
there to help stability and improve antenna performance.
However
beyond that we're really seeing a re-badged iPhone 5, which is no longer
on sale thanks to being sacrificed for this new model. The CPU is an
decent A6 chip, the screen is a 4-inch Retina display and the internal
storage options are the standard 16GB and 32GB choices.
That
said, this isn't a phone that's just made of recovered devices – it's a
whole new handset. Some have wondered how Apple could ever think about
making a non-premium device, but with the iPhone 5C it's made a phone
that feel so different to the iPhone 5S that buyers won't feel like
they're buying a rubbish version of that device.
Here's
how the company made it so premium: keeping the cost higher. In the US
it will be $99 and $199 for the contract options of 16GB and 32GB
respectively. However, in the UK you'll be paying £479 for the privilege
of a 16GB option, and £549 for the 32GB. That's more than the HTC One and Galaxy S4, depending on storage.
But beyond that, it's a very similar experience to that you'll get on the iPhone 5S, with iOS 7 running like a veritable peach, with no slow down nor issues to contend with in our early play with the phone.
So the iPhone 5C is really the iPhone 5, except the color case is different material, and color of course. Software and all is the same, pricing is the same.
So the iPhone 5C is really the iPhone 5, except the color case is different material, and color of course. Software and all is the same, pricing is the same.
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