iPhone 5S: Apple’s new gold standard

First and foremost, the iPhone 5S will retain a similar design to its predecessor, the iPhone 5 and be made with high-grade aluminum with cut chamfered edges. There will be three “colors” available for the iPhone 5S: gold, silver, and grey.

New Processors

Apple boasted a bit in the beginning of the presentation of the iPhone 5S as it will be sporting a brand new A7 chip, which will be a 64-bit chip and the “first of its kind” in mobile devices. The A7 chip will boast the roughly the same size as Apple’s A6 chip, but will have twice as many transistors within. As well, iOS 7 will be receiving an update to allow it to run in a 64-bit system and have 32-bit backwards compatibility. With the new processor, the iPhone 5S will boast a CPU that is twice as fast as the iPhone 5 (….and 56 times faster than the original iPhone according to Apple).

A new piece of hardware that will debut in the iPhone 5S is a “motion co-processor” called M7. With this piece, the iPhone 5S will continually monitor data such as the accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass support and opens the door for a new generation of health and fitness apps.

Battery and Camera

In terms of batter life on their new phone, you’re looking at about 10 hours of 3G talk-time, 10 hours of LTE browsing, 40 hours of music playback, and 250 hours of standby. Obviously, nothing ridiculously impressive and doesn’t break away from the norm of Apple devices. The camera for the iPhone 5S will contain a 5-element Apple design lens with a f/2.2 aperture and larger sensor area and will also have a new flash, called True Tone, that will help reduce clashing color temperatures. Slow-motion capture of video will also be possible, coming in at a quality of 720p HD at 120 frames pre second.

Touch ID: Fingerprints instead of passwords

Another new feature that is making its debut on the iPhone 5S is Touch ID. The home button has now been transformed into a fingerprint sensor that is 170 microns thing, has 500 ppi resolution and scan the sub-epidermal skin layers. This will add an extra layer of protection to your phone, using your unique fingerprint as your new access code. Touch ID will even be used to make purchases in the App Store / iTunes using your finger to authenticate.

As for pricing, you’re looking at $199 US dollars for the 16 GB version, $299 for 32 GB, and $399 for the 64 GB. As always, these prices are with a two year contract. As with the iPhone 5C, the iPhone 5S will be available for sale in the United States, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, and the UK starting September 20th.

Technical Specs

	iPhone 5S
System	iOS7
Display	4-inches, 1136 x 640 Pixel, 326 ppi
Processor	A7
Camera	iSight Camera, 8 MP, f/2.2, Slow-motion Video (120 fps), Dual LED
Front Camera	1.2 MP
Battery	10 hours talk time, <8-10 browsing, 250 Std. Standby
Sensor	Fingerprint sensor, gryoscope, accelerometer, promixity sensor, ambient light sensor
Dimensions	123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6 mm
Weight	112 g
Pricing	$199 for 16GB / $299 for 32GB / $399 for 64GB on two year contract.