Apple on Tuesday unveiled two new
iPhones, fielding a slick new top-end model along withone aimedat budget-conscious smartphoneshoppers around the world."The business has become solarge that this year we are goingto replace the iPhone 5 and weare going to replace it with two new designs," Apple chief Tim
Colk ann ounced at the compa-nys Silicon Valley headquarters.Apple will begin taking orders on Friday and on September 20 the two devices will go on sale in the US, Australia, Britain,
China, France, Germany, Japan and Singapore.
The iPhone 5C is part of Apple's bid to counter the flood of low-cost smartphones from rivals, most of which use the Google Android operating system. Apple designer Jony Ive said that despite the lower the cost, polycarbonate iPhone 5C with a steel frame is beautiful."
The iPhone 5 with 16 gigabytes of memory will start at $99 with a two-year US carrier contract and without a contract--$100less than previous iPhone base models.
"The 5C is a no-compromise device," said Van Baker, analyst at researchfirm Gartner "It is just in aplastic case instead of ametal case, and they basically reduce the
price by the cost of materials." Baker said it was an "open question" whether the price cut for the iPhone 5C would be enough to attract customers in emerg
ing markets. Anyone expecting Apple to come truly down-market with the iPhone 5C was fooling them
selves," said Ovum analyst Tony Cripps. "The day that happens is the day the company signals that it has run out of headroom for expansion."
The top-line iPhone 5S, which starts at $199 with a contract for the US buyers and $649 without one, is the most forward thinking phone we have ever created,"
said Apple vice president Phil S Schiller.
Schiller said the 5s model includes a speedier chip which
puts computing performance on par with desktop machines. "It has over a billion transistors in it.''
The 5S will also have some 10 hours of talk time, or 40 hours of music listening, Schiller added Apple introduced a finger-print sensor for the iPhone 5S as a new security measure in place of passwords. "You can
just press the home button to unlock your phone," Schiller said. "You can use it to authenticate iTunes purchases."
Apple said its iOS 7 software will debut September 18.
It includes a free iTunes Radio Service featuring more than 200 stations "and an incredible catalog of music from the iTunes Store.
The two new handsets keep the four-inch screen of current iPhones, despite some speculation Apple would boost the size to compete with phones larger from rivals like Samsung.
The smartphone market is now dominated by Android
devices, with roughly three- fourths of all handsets, but a
forecast by research firm ID suggested Apple will increase its share this year to 17.9% from
16.9%.
IDC analyst Ramon Llamas said that with the 5C, Apple is
staking out its space in the lower-cost smartphone category."
Llamas said Apple is seeking to fend off lower-priced rivals while it enjoys bigger profit margins and still maintains the aura of being an aspirational brand
