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iPhone 5s/5c reviews: Is Apple still magical?

Alex Kidman ABC Technology and Games 18 Sep 2013

There's now a super-premium version and a slightly-less-premium-but-colourful version.


iPhone 5s/5c review: Is Apple still "magical"? Apple announced not one but two new iPhones this year in a market awash with larger-screened Androids and Windows Phones. In 2013, is Apple's view of what makes a premium smartphone still magical?

iPhone 5s

The iPhone 5s doesn't represent a radical design departure for Apple, unless you consider a gold iPhone, or the removal of that little square in the middle of the home button to be radical design shifts.

I've been testing with the gold version for a week now, and I'm somewhat surprised with how much it has grown on me; while the early leaked shots suggested an orgy of gold that would only suit the aspiring 50 Cent wannabe, the end result is rather more refined looking. Still, a lot of what made last year's iPhone 5 stand out is still the case here; it weighs the same, has the same resolution screen and same storage arrangements to boot.

It's a little hard to separate an iPhone from its operating system, and the iPhone 5s is the first phone Apple has offered (alongside the sibling iPhone 5c) to run iOS 7 natively; users with older handsets could always opt to stay on iOS 6 or earlier, but if you buy an iPhone 5s, you're stuck with Sir Jony Ive's particularly bright vision of a modern operating system. There's a learning curve here even for old hands at iOS, but for the most part it's stable and fast, and, as always, built around the app ecosystem that remains a core strength of Apple's smartphone offerings.

Apple has beefed up the camera it offers for iPhones in the 5s, but not by pushing up the megapixel count. Instead, what you get is an 8 megapixel sensor, but each individual pixel is a little larger at 1.5 microns. It's the same philosophy that HTC used with the HTC One, although its "Ultrapixels" measure in at two microns.

The end results are pretty impressive; the iPhone 5s can continuously shoot stills at full resolution and a rapid rate, manages well at low-light shooting and can pull off some neat tricks with 120fps 720p video to boot. It's not quite at the lofty heights of the Lumia 1020 and its 41-megapixel sensor, but then the Lumia 1020 can't boast iOS' ecosystem - or the iPhone 5s' fast shooting abilities either.

There is also some future-looking technology within the iPhone 5s that's basically impossible to assess at this point in time. The A7 chip that runs the iPhone 5s is 64-bit capable, but there's precious little 64-bit code out there just yet.

The M7 "Motion Processor" should allow for fitness apps to track users in the way that bands such as the Jawbone Up or Nike Fuelband do right now, but right now it's more or less there, rather than being functional.

The fingerprint sensor in the iPhone 5s is surprisingly fun to use, although again it's limited to simply unlocking the phone and authenticating iTunes purchases; opening it up for third party app developers to use doesn't appear to be on Apple's agenda. Biometrics like this are hardly "new" in the business world - there's no shortage of laptops with fingerprint sensors - but in the more consumer-centric smartphone world, Apple's sensibly gone for an ease of use approach to get people used to the technology before adding complexity.

There was a time when folks would have been lining up for more than a week now to get a new iPhone, but that doesn't seem to have happened this time around, as the halo has dimmed somewhat and many solid competitor products are available for smartphone buyers.

Where does that leave the iPhone 5s? It depends where you come to it from. If you're happy in the iOS ecosystem it's a very solid upgrade for everyone except iPhone 5 buyers, but then that's always been the case with the previous year's model; the sensible time to upgrade should be every two years, not every twelve months.

If you're happy in Android, Windows Phone or Blackberry enclaves there's really one key thing the iPhone 5s offers that other platforms genuinely struggle with, and that's small form factor and power. You can get small Android/WP8 devices, but they're all underpowered; if you want cutting edge you're getting a larger-screened device such as the Galaxy Note 3. Those who want a smaller device will find the iPhone 5s to be an excellent choice.

iPhone 5c

Alongside the premium iPhone 5s, Apple also launched the iPhone 5c, its polycarbonate and highly-colourful line of ever-so-slightly-cheaper iPhones based primarily around the hardware found in the iPhone 5. I was going to type "existing" iPhone 5, but the theatre where Apple held its launch hadn't even finished clearing before Apple pulled the iPhone 5 from its own sales channels. If you want an iPhone 5, you'll need to find one still on store shelves, and rather quickly at that.

As I've been testing the iPhone 5c, I've been struggling with one basic question, and it's this: Who is the iPhone 5c for?

Apple was widely rumoured to be bringing a "cheap" iPhone to market, and it didn't, but then it never said it would. What we've got instead is a marginally-cheaper iPhone that's rather well built - like the other iPhones that came before it, in other words - and comes in a variety of colours. The physical build is fine, the colours will appeal to some and appall others, and iOS runs acceptably well on it, as it should. Testing it felt like testing the iPhone 5, and that's already a very well known quantity. Apple states that the battery in the iPhone 5c is improved over that of the iPhone 5, but in my own tests they run pretty much neck and neck for most of the time.

It is essentially just an iPhone 5 in a pretty new hat. The iPhone 5 was a fine premium smartphone in 2012, but in 2013, that makes it (at best) an upper mid-range phone. Apple hasn't priced it that way, putting $130 (if purchased outright) between the price of the 5c and the 5s. The performance and feature gulf, once you take the better camera, fingerprint sensor, motion sensor and faster processor into account isn't trivial, but it is quite trivial to get a colourful iPhone 5 case - most I've tested with fit just fine - and pop it onto an iPhone 5s. Hey presto, it's an iPhone 5c, only quite a bit better.

So who's going to buy it? I'm honestly not sure outside of the heavy fashion crowd who, for one reason or another might just want colour and not actual features. When it was announced and outright pricing emerged, the only glimmer of hope was that telcos would take it on board in a heavily-subsidised fashion, making it a better value pick, but that hasn't really happened at all in Australia. We're still better off on contract than in the US - an interesting reversal of the outright purchase price - but carriers are less inclined to subsidise handsets in such a heavily-competitive space, which means that the iPhone 5c, like many other handsets, isn't available in any kind of budget space.

Maybe I'll be proved wrong, and a market will emerge that loves the iPhone 5c and buys it in droves. Undeniably, that's what Apple would be hoping for, although at the time of writing it's the first Apple product I can think of that hasn't sold out on pre-order; as I write this Apple is citing delivery availability if pre-ordered for every colour of iPhone 5c on Friday, which is precisely when both the 5c and 5s (which you can't pre-order) go on sale.

So is Apple still "magical"? I'm not entirely convinced it ever was, but in offering two different iPhones to market at once, it is offering more choice, even though the choice between two premium models, where one is markedly better than the other, is one that's astonishingly easy to make.

Comments (23)

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  • iphone app developers melbourn :

    23 Sep 2013 10:24:44pm

    I am very much exited with the iPhone 5, surely iPhone is still magical because of its app support,cost nonfluctuating,and also due to its features.iPhone 5 has many new features with its destiny around years of years.your post is nice and informative.thanks for sharing with us.

  • Jeb :

    19 Sep 2013 10:53:42am


    That sums up my reason for choosing the iPhone over others. The original iPhone offered a revolutionary experience (which has been copied by others... like it or not, it's Apple's touch phone experience that everybody loves.)

    Does a phone need to be bigger? No. Many become frustrated that Apple uses smaller screens than a lot of Android-based phones. It's safe to say this is a conscious decision as they could simply stretch their phone without requiring too much work.

    Personally I'm happy that Apple has stuck to their guns. They make a great device. The only different things offered by the competition are:
    - larger screens
    - cameras with more MP/lens options

    To be frank there's not much "magical" innovation out there right now. Good innovation is stuff that people will actually use on a day to day basis... Apple's touch screen iOS model is still the most significant mobile innovation. If Apple makes the experience faster, ups the battery life, makes the camera better and cleans the UI up a little then it suits me because the seamless experience can continue! (Without a screen that's too big for my pockets, zillions of insecure "app" stores that sell pirated software/Android viruses, advertising bulk added by carriers and update/security patch cycles being restricted by carriers.)

    No, Google Glass isn't going to replace the iPhone's UI. It's just a side project for Mr Google's ex girlfriend who needed a job. Now that they've split it's goooone...

    • Andrew :

      19 Sep 2013 5:17:47pm

      I will admit Apple's made a decent choice in sticking with its familiar form factor/screen size for their market. However, Android phones definitely offer more than larger screens and better/different cameras. In terms of hardware, there are NFC and IR blasters and in terms of software: widgets, sharing between apps, custom launchers and a whole swath of other options. Apple is excellent at creating smooth and simple user experience while Android is where innovation and change are happening (eg the notification shade and control center options originated in Android). By this point, there's a mutual borrowing/theft of ideas going on. That's not to say either ecosystem is *worse* but that they simply achieve different things for different people.

      • Luke :

        21 Sep 2013 8:57:22pm

        Android offer Better cameras? I'm guessing you haven't seen the 5S camera then....

        Only camera that is arguably better (in some but not all measures) is the 41mp lumia which doesn't run android... No android phone has a better camera than the 5S..

  • Neil :

    19 Sep 2013 8:59:43am

    You have to credit Apple with revolutionizing not only the smart phone market, but the mobile phone market, they effectively put Nokia out of business.

    Apart from that, were they ever magical? The iPhones are well built, and the app store/iTunes experience is very solid.

    There's a lot of hype about user experience and Apple products, we are told how great they are, personally, I don't see it in the iPhone, as I know a lot of others don't. Yes, it is good, but not as good as they want us to believe.

    Unfortunately, the are riding on the coat tails of their previous success, even many of their "new" innovations in the iPhone are taken from features of lesser known Android or Windows phones.

    In short, there is no magic, apart from the hype, the phones are very good, but are they worth the price they expect us to pay? Obviously, that's very subjective, but for mine, when you look at the competitors offerings, you would have to say no.

  • Jeff S :

    18 Sep 2013 11:09:47pm

    "So who's going to buy it?"

    Probably the same group of people who have been buying $100 on-contract iPhones for the past 4 years ...

  • Andri :

    18 Sep 2013 6:49:46pm

    Apple is very Magical still.

    Its what they're doing as a whole that's important, to everyone not just cosmetics.

    The size and shape should not change, remember its a phone not a large PC in your pocket, so the size is fine.

    People with impaired or no vision use iPhones because they can be held in one hand used with one hand only. a persons thumb can reach all parts of screen which is important and comfortable.

    Anybody can just make their phone bigger, but that's not the goal of evolution, is it?

    You can't expect the wheel to be invented every single year. As it is thats not how innovation works. Just look at their commercial, don't delete this please ABC. Their commercial shows what apple stands for etc...
    Don't confuse convenience with joy. It's not about that, its about making people love what they're using and inspiration.

    "Apple - Designed By Apple - Intention" ad on youtube.

    Apple doesn't have steve jobs, so what!! That doesn't mean apple no longer exists!! Steve wasn't the only person working their. The whole team put the effort in for everything there. Teamwork is what apple is best known for now.

    the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C are amazing products that can't be criticized by any logical means unless you the person have been using the device for a while which means weeks or months, not just a look on the net or news.

    The people at apple spend months that hundreds of hours of research and development into these things.

  • Andy Roid :

    18 Sep 2013 5:59:54pm

    Discriminates against those without fingers and the colour blind. Tiny screen is hard to read.

  • Peter of Melbourne :

    18 Sep 2013 5:43:37pm

    I will stick to my Nokia 820. Windows 8 works seamlessly and it is extremely intuitive touchscreen operating system wholely suited to mobile appliances (the same cant be said for it on my laptop or one of the PC's operating at home).

    And it didnt cost me between $800 and $1200 to purchase either. I can still make a call, receive a call, check my online accounts and even take a photo (SLR's are a better option by magnitudes for that particular task though). All in al its a smart phone which pushes all the right buttons for around a quarter of the price of an Apple fad.

  • Mike :

    18 Sep 2013 5:16:59pm

    The iPhone is a popular device. It has brought simplicity to the "technology challenged", instant acceptance amongst those that want to be seen as "fashionable" as well as a decent phone for those that need a good well made device.

    The problem Apple now has is that technology has moved on people are becoming more tech savvy and require more functions and features and there are now many other companies that build phones to an equivalent standard or better in the cases of Samsung, Nokia and Sony.

    Times are a changing - yet again and Apple has no longer got the edge it once had and most importantly it no longer has the Marketing genius, Customer feel or new product ideas of Steve Jobs.

  • cal :

    18 Sep 2013 5:15:08pm

    The really smart time to upgrade is if your phone stops working, not every 12 months, or every 2 years as suggested here.
    No wonder there's a vortex of floating rubbish the size of texas in the pacific ocean. Speaking of waste, why no user replaceable /removable batteries Apple?

    • Squash :

      23 Sep 2013 9:11:25am

      With Apple phones, the time the phone "stops working" is the time Apple stops allowing the OS to be updated, making the phone incompatible with many useful apps. My wife had to replace her iPhone 3G for this reason, despite it still working perfectly. The 3GS has now lost iOS support. Why would anyone get a iPhone 4 now when it will be obsolete in a year?

  • Troy :

    18 Sep 2013 4:52:46pm

    You used to boot twice within a few paragraphs...

  • Richardw :

    18 Sep 2013 11:30:13am

    I assume the 5c is to hold a little more of the emerging markets. As such it will hold a small amount.

    This is Apple showing it doesn't care about achieving 100% market share - and why should it?

    Is Apple magical? No - never was and anyone who thought it was or should be magical needs help.

    Apple delivered quality and innovation. Apple was often not the original source of the innovation but it usually was the first to get it to market in a well designed and highly usable product.

    Back at the start Apple made these wonderful new things called computers. In about 1979 I bought one. Nobody else had one at my school. Hardly anyone else had one at all.

    Around that time I was told that Commodore would wipe out Apple cause the Commodore 64 was so much cheaper and better than an Apple II. But it didn't.

    The thing is back then a computer was a magical thing. Anything Apple did was magical. Yes it sort of was in a way.

    The rate of technology development back then was actually rather slow compared to now.

    Now a computer is a common everyday thing - everybody has one. Nobody asks Dell if their latest computer is revolutionary - or just has a new hat, or faster proceccor or whatever.

    "smart" phones were new a few years ago. Apple obviously revolutionised them. Now they have become common everyday items for much of the world.

    The expectation that every new phone has to be revolutionary is in my mind quite silly.

    The tech developed between the 5 and the 5s would have been an amazing leap compared to any other time in the history of Apple. Some people want too much and want the wrong things.

    Innovation is not a goal nor a need of the consumer.

    I don't get out my phone cause I need an innovation. I get out my phone to use it. I want it to work and work well and easily.

    My iPhone does this - and generally speaking most other phones do too.

    If I get new features I want them to be useful and well executed. In most cases they are. (with a few overstated exceptions in the recent past - don't bother trolling back - I'll win the debate with facts)

    I also want a degree of security in my device as I don't want problems later.

    My advice therefore is about the same as the article. Buy/upgrade to this if you want something it offers or if like us you need another phone to replace an old one that has suffered several indigities.

    Time for reality check on technolgy evelopment and it's place in the world.

    • Dylan :

      18 Sep 2013 5:54:20pm

      Feel better now you got that of your chest? lol.

    • Ken :

      18 Sep 2013 5:56:03pm

      You mention the Commodore 64 and how Apple is still around. You say you were at school, I was in the workplace and the thing that I noticed then and still do and I simply don't understand why is the almost religious attachment people had/have to Apple. I was the only one in a work group that installed Windows I. I was make to feel I had fought in the war on the dark side. If I said anything against Apple my work mates would be really nasty to me. Because of that I developed a hatred of Apple. May be 15-20 years ago Apple offered the best graphics software that I really needed to use but I did not weaken much to my own disadvantage. But even now you can't have a civil discussion with an Apple user unless you first agree that Apple is better than god and everything else

    • SDB17 :

      18 Sep 2013 6:18:00pm

      Agree completely. IPhone is a great phone in a great ecosystem; the seamless coordination with Mac in particular makes it key for me. And it is unreasonable to expect enormous changes every year. Tick and tock as someone said on Download this show.
      But happily for everyone there are lots of alternatives and there is hot competition which drives innovation and is good for consumers.
      So celebrate the iOS and Androids and Windows phones. Bring them all on.

    • Lampe :

      18 Sep 2013 7:03:01pm

      Magic was what made Steve Jobs a creative genius and not another copycat wannabe...

    • The Future :

      19 Sep 2013 1:08:25am

      The idea that the 5c will do anything in emerging markets is absurd, given its pricing. Those that can afford the 5c in emerging markets can also afford the 5s, so the results will be quite similar to developed markets with regard to the 5s/5c split.

      Nokia and most of the Android based manufacturers are producing 'smartphones' for emerging markets that are significantly cheaper than their flagship options and therefore claiming huge market share. In most industries, this wouldn't be a problem, as although people might drive a cheap Ford when that's all they can afford, they'll happily buy a Ferrari when they have the money. Unfortunately for Apple, by the time many people in emerging markets have the money, they'll be so used to the Android ecosystem that Apple products won't appeal as much as they could.

    • WayneM :

      19 Sep 2013 8:40:28am

      I totally agree with all you say. I'm still on the 4s and find satisfactory for my needs. Its a good reliable phone with a reasonably good camera. I think the constant upgrading every year now with a few new tricks is just a wasteful consumer based idea. There is already a mountain of hard to dispose of technology that causing a great deal of environmental issues especially in third world country's that are being used as a dumping ground for obsolete electronic devices. The manufacturers should be held more accountable and provide a more efficient system of taking back the old product for recycling whenever they produce a new model. The long term dangers of committing electronic waste to landfill is already evident. The heavy metals eventually end up in the water table, streams and the oceans. Mercury is a great concern when it enters the marine environment and ends up in the food chain. The recovery of heavy metal should be the responsibility of the manufacturer of goods that are made by them and not that of the people who use their products.

    • BT :

      19 Sep 2013 10:32:42am

      Well said, RICHARDW - I too think it's ridiculous the expectations consumers (or a particular segment of consumers who demonstrate a certain type of snobbery) place on tech these days. Apple's done so much for the world - take stock and be thankful Jobs and co put so much power and perfection in your hands and quit your moaning.

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