iPhone 5S Announced with A7 SoC, Fingerprint Scanner
It's been a long time coming but Apple finally unveiled its next generation of iPhone today at an event in Cupertino. The company was rumoured to be launching not one but two iPhones, and it didn't disappoint.
Apple started with the iPhone 5C (which you can read about here), but, obviously, the main event is the iPhone 5S. The iPhone 5S is available in black, gold and silver and made of high-grade aluminum with cut chamfered edges.
As rumors indicated, the iPhone 5S will run on Apple's A7 SoC. Apple today confirmed that the A7 is actually a 64-bit chip with 2x general purpose registers, 2x floating point registers, over one billion transistors and 102 square mm die size. The result is CPU performance that is 40 times that of the original iPhone and graphics performance that is 56 times that of the original iPhone. You can read all about the A7 here. In addition to the A7, the iPhone 5S also uses a motion co-processor called the M7. The M7 is in charge of motion data, measuring accelerometer, gyroscope and compass data continuously (Apple is eyeing health and fitness apps with this).
The camera has been upgraded, too (again, not a surprise). The iPhone 5S camera packs a 5-element lens with an aperture of f/2.2 on top of a sensor with a surface area that's 15 percent larger than that of the iPhone 5. It also has burst mode, image stabilization, and slow motion (720p at 120 fps).
Apple also confirmed Touch ID, which is fingerprint authentication that can be used to unlock your device and make iTunes purchases. The sensor measures 170 microns thick and boasts a 500 ppi resolution. You don't have to press the home button to scan, just place your finger on top, and the phone can read multiple fingerprints. Additionally, your fingerprints are never stored on Apple's servers or backed up to iCloud.
As far as battery life is concerned, Apple is promising 250 hours of standby, 10 hours of LTE browsing, 40 hours of music playback, 10 hours of talk time on 3G, though the company didn't talk about the battery's size. We're also waiting for more information on the display, RAM, and other aspects of the iPhone 5S hardware.
The iPhone 5S is priced at $199 for the 16 GB model, $299 for the 32 GB model, and $399 for the 64 GB model. iPhone 5S and 5C will be available starting September 20. The 5C will go up for pre-order on September 13 (this coming Friday), and China and Japan are also on the list of launch-day markets. This is a first for China, and Japan's NTT DoCoMo, which is getting the iPhone for the first time. That explains why Apple was streaming the event in Beijing and Tokyo (but doesn't really explain why there was no stream for anyone else).
Check out the hands-on from our sister site LAPTOP:
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
- iPhone 5S Packs Apple A7 Chip: World's First 64-bit Phone
- Apple Confirms iPhone 5C with 4-inch Retina Display and A6 SoC
- Apple Confirms iOS 7 to Launch September 18
Follow Jane McEntegart @JaneMcEntegart. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.
Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
-
deftonian "The result is CPU performance that is 40 times that of the original iPhone and graphics performance that is 56 times that of the original iPhone."Reply
I like how they compare it to their original iPhon.... makes the numbers seem so much better. Hey, guess what guys, my PC is 100000 times better than the original PC. I want to see how it stacks up against current gen top tier phones and the iP5. Don't try and sell me with some comparison to some phone 4 generations old. -
soo-nah-mee Does anybody else find it amazing that the consumer price of a 64 GB model is TWICE AS MUCH as the exact same phone with 16 GB of memory when you can get a 64 GB microSD card for under $40?Reply -
soo-nah-mee Does anybody else find it amazing that the consumer price of a 64 GB model is TWICE AS MUCH as the exact same phone with 16 GB of memory when you can get a 64 GB microSD card for under $40?Reply -
TechnoD I can see battery life already being a problem. those numbers don't stack up well against the S4Reply
-
TechnoD I can see battery life already being a problem. those numbers don't stack up well against the S4Reply
-
teh_chem Tom's...2 different iphone 5s announcement posts? Come on, like this couldn't have been included in your other post sensationalizing iphone 5s as the "world's first 64-bit phone."Reply -
michael908 It offers the same amount of talk time on 3g network as browsing on lte? I call BS on that.Reply -
halcyon Disclaimer: I'm an Android guy with an S4, Note 8.0, and Sony Xperia Tablet ZReply
Apple's announcements today were significant. The lower cost iPhone will be a hit as will the champagne 5s. The fingerprint scanning is cool as $*@%! and I'm looking forward to when Samsung or Sony copies it. The faster 5s is 64-bit and if it were an android manufacturer the android fangirls would be doing voodoo chants. Yeah, I would have liked to see Apple release a larger-screened phone but the fact that they refuse to do so just secures my android stance. Give Apple their props for their exceedingly simple OS and sometimes innovative tech...even if you prefer the more complex and flexible galaxy (pun intended) of android. -
sean1357 Good works Apple. I can't wait to get my hands on it. I would like to see if they put FPGA chip instead...Reply