New High-Resolution Photos of Low-Cost iPhone Rear Shell Surface, Pricing Similar to iPhone 4?

[Silvereel]

Facial recognition, touchless operation (hover over display), touch support for gloves for cold climates, waterproofing, wireless charging, NFC, premium sound, IR blaster based TV application support, LTE-A support, etc.

Research is your friend

Facial recognition - hit of miss

Touchless operation - miss

Touch support with gloves - not a bad idea, if it works

Waterproofing - doesn't actually work

Wireless charging - gimmick

NFC - useless in current environment

 

[ProjectedLight]

The innovations that Samsung has brought to market in recent years is staggering..........ly useless. NFC? Wireless charging? No and no. Innovations in bragging rights perhaps.

When I see some of the accents of the plastic iPhone, notice how the logo, the camera, and the lightning insert are all black. Will they come with black displays? Ew. Perhaps they might have the option for either a black or white display. Makes sense, but for purposes of scale, I think the iPhone Color will use black displays, like the low cost iPod Touch. It looks nice there, but with those plastic cases and especially with the white casing, it might look cheap.

 

[Gudi]

Just because A6 is almost TWICE as fast as A5 and they could officially jump WAY AHEAD in what developers can do with the hardware.

Thank you for reminding me of how outdated all my hardware already is. The purpose of a low-cost model versus last-years models is of course to have current technology in all available devices. So you might be right at least A6 chips in all new iDevices from this year on. No more selling two year old processors. So the iPhone 5C will be more like an iPhone 5 in a plastic shell, not an iPhone 4/4S.

Is it weird that we really haven't seen much in the way of leaks for the "5S"?

Or we have seen it and it is also plastic. They needed to do something about Scuffgate, didn't they?

 

[walmartmartyr]

The innovations that Samsung has brought to market in recent years is staggering..........ly useless. NFC? Wireless charging? No and no. Innovations in bragging rights perhaps.

When I see some of the accents of the plastic iPhone, notice how the logo, the camera, and the lightning insert are all black. Will they come with black displays? Ew. Perhaps they might have the option for either a black or white display. Makes sense, but for purposes of scale, I think the iPhone Color will use black displays, like the low cost iPod Touch. It looks nice there, but with those plastic cases and especially with the white casing, it might look cheap.

what other color displays are available?

 

[512ke]

Too expensive to fight the competition. I hope the cites price point is not correct. C should be cheaper than 4.

 

[osofast240sx]

Uh, no. This will have an A6 CPU and a 4" display. So they're putting the iPhone 5 (more or less) into a new shell. Meanwhile the 5S will replace the 5 as the premium product.

The question for me is: will it have 4G? Either way, it is going to be a very successful product.

Yep it will have 4G LTE

 

[Websnapx2]

I'd be willing to pay a lower price for a plastic iPhone5C with iPhone 5S specs, not with iPhone 4 specs!

Why in the world would it have iPhone 4 specs? If anything, the lowest they would go is 4s – I mean they would at least give it Siri capabilities. Why would they design and produce a NEW phone to not let it have a flagship feature introduced 2 years ago? An existing phone, maybe (as seen in the up-till-now continued manufacturing of the iPhone 4) but a new phone? Come on now... lets use our proper analytical skills here.

 

[E.Lizardo]

It depends on what's inside. So far I'm liking what I see externally but it all depends on screen quality and cpu/gpu performance.

I'm leaning toward iPhone 5 hardware in a plastic shell.Seems logical given the *possible*name 5c.Seems like it would be a pretty shrewd move.We'll know soon enough!

 

[Twimfy]

If the front is white too I'm buying it!

 

[Websnapx2]

This is getting boring

And on what planet is £320 low cost?

Apple iPhone 4 8G on PAYG is £320. Certainly not paying that for a plastic phone.
£175 - £250 maybe?

Verdict - usual Apple story lately - just too expensive - just too late to be innovative anymore.

By that logic, the ¢99 store must be the most innovative company in the world. Seems silly to deliver your "veridic" before the product is even announced.

 

[ProjectedLight]

what other color displays are available?

White. All the renders are assuming iPhone Color will use white displays because the colored iPod Touch does it that way. I'm not so sure.

 

[Rogifan]

Exactly. I don't quite know what everyone keeps thinking in terms of innovation. Some think internal some think external. To me, I'm quite happy with a phone that runs the apps I want it to (anything available in the App store), holds what I need it to hold, stands up to a little bit of use (doesn't randomly bend in a pocket), and so forth. I can't even tell you the specs of my iPad or iPhone without looking them up, tbh.

It is not that I am not technologically inclined or curious, I just happen to know both sides of the fence enough to know that I choose Apple. I don't want to design a phone myself, frankly.

With all of the choices we have for phones, spending so much time bitching about one is silly.

I just get annoyed when people throw out words like "real innovation". Especially because not everyone will have the same opinion on how you define it. With Apple I know they're a company that doesn't really care about being first to market with something. Their most successful products were not first to market in their respective category. It seems though since the death of Steve Jobs the media has decided to rewrite history, when really the Apple of today is basically the same as it was under Steve.

 

[WhiteIphone5]

Do we know if this will have the same specs as the 5S?

Of course not

 

[Websnapx2]

People want REAL innovation, not another variations of the iPhone/iPad

Biometrics is coming to the iPhone 5S. WHy are you looking for "innovation" in the low-cost device? Sounds silly to expect that.

 

[Redraider3403]

I don't know if this has been brought up before or not, but is there any chance the iPhone 5C will be the only new phone Apple releases this year? There seems to be a bunch of 5C leaks and not much on a new flagship phone. Seems like it would make more sense updating a product line each year vs having the S bump that ultimately disappoints the masses.

 

[badmac78]

iP5C Pricing ... IMHO

So my guess is that there is room for 2 flavors of iP5C with off contract pricing in the $350 and $450 range.

 

[TouchMint.com]

I still think it's weird we have not seen any iPhone 5s parts besides maybe a display adapter. This means apple is doubling down on keeping the 5s secret while not caring about the 5c being seen or the 5s is exactly the same materials and form factor as the 5 so it wouldn't look any different anyways.

 

[iGrip]

Assuming these photos are all real, its a huge disappointment that Apple wasn't able to create a good looking phone, especially given what Motorola was able to accomplish with the Moto X. Seriously, the Moto X has much better looks compared to the plastic iPhone ... and they're both plastic!

Also, from the leaks of the other colors for the iPhone, the colors look AWFUL as well.

Agreed. Motorola is innovating here, while Apple is just offering an old school cheap plastic phone.

 

[appleisking]

People want REAL innovation, not another variations of the iPhone/iPad

No YOU want "real" innovation other people just want a smartphone that works well and is affordable. People go Apple because it's well known and does what they want it to do, but they don't expect something magical.

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Agreed. Motorola is innovating here, while Apple is just offering an old school cheap plastic phone.

Comparing an announced product with a rumor.

 

[Plutonius]

People want REAL innovation, not another variations of the iPhone/iPad

What would you consider innovation ?

 

[Websnapx2]

I don't know if this has been brought up before or not, but is there any chance the iPhone 5C will be the only new phone Apple releases this year? There seems to be a bunch of 5C leaks and not much on a new flagship phone. Seems like it would make more sense updating a product line each year vs having the S bump that ultimately disappoints the masses.

I think there are no leaks for the 5S because it will look just (or close) to the 5 – so, nothing new – hell, they probably already saw it and THOUGHT it was a backing for the 5. THIS is getting coverage because it's new. There have been a lot of leaks for components of the 5S... like the camera, biometrics scanner and such. And I tend to disagree on "the S bump that ultimately disappoints the masses". If anything, the "S" models are the best ones as it has refined the build process of that model. PLUS, added updated hardware not available in the first model iteration (storage bump, processor bump, camera bump/improvement). PLUS, they add features from a software perspective (4S added Siri, turn-by-turn and 1080p recording). In fact – the only people disappointed with the "S bump" are people erroneously holding out hope that Apple will skip over the S and go straight to the "magical unicorn" next model set, which – lets face to – would disappoint because it won't be a magical unicorn.

 

[osofast240sx]

Agreed. Motorola is innovating here, while Apple is just offering an old school cheap plastic phone.

What exactly did Motorola innovate on the moto x??????

 

[iGrip]

Facial recognition is useless on android in most cases. You can do facial recognition by software but unless it works much better than it does now, apple will not add it. And thats good.

Touchless operation on the other side works but is an artificial feature.
You don't need to distinct between hovering and taping if your ui works.
You only need it if you are a bad developer who thinks in desktop world for his app or if you are a marketing specialist who needs a feature.

touch support for gloves -> theoretical great, practical does not work so good in many real life situations. Problem here is the reduced resolution and exactness. You would have to modify the ui to make all elements bigger to ensure a good hit. Unless touchsupport for glove has same resolution it's not working perfect enough. But i agree, this is something nice to have basically.

wireless charging please no. Not with the current implementations.
First -> it takes way more power than wired charging. It also takes way longer. You also have to align your phone, make the phone heavier, limit your material choices, need additional shielding. For a gimmicky feature which is on ios not a real problem.
WHY wireless charging ? Because fidling with the plug is bad.
But with lightning there is no fidling. No this direction is right or wrong, or hard to hit hole (because of rounded plug). It is as fast as laying it on a mat.
But works faster and uses less power.
For Android i agree, using this ****** miniusb or microusb connectors is really pain in the ass.

NFC no thanks.
NFC is far to insecure right now, it isn't by any means a mainstream feature because of different protocols.
Why NFC if you have stuff like wifidirect for more secure pairing, wich also has much faster data transfer rates and is far more universal usable ?

Premium sound ... i would like to have no sound in all phones worldwide. Please use headphones for the sake of all the people in your surrounding.
There is nothing worse than driving in the train having multiple smartphones playing music with maximum power because people don't use headphones.
Yes better sound is possible as htc one shows.
BUT it is a feature i really really really hope for mankind will not be added to iphone. Just to have a little less noisy world.

IPhone has nearly since ios2.0 apps for ir remote. Add a small led to your headphone plug, finished.
But do you know whats much better ? use wifi solutions, so you don't need direct line of sight. Existing also since ios 2.0

LTE-A Support is useless for a phone right now if 90% of the network doesn't use it. Concentrate on whats used and existing, not on what could be existing in 3 or 4 years because then you have a new phone.

But despite each point you made, each feature qualifies as an innovation.

 

[Rogifan]

Speaking of water proof phones apparently AT&T will be offering a replacement on Samsung Galaxy Active phones with water damage. But hey it's innovation, right?

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013...ge-swap-on-supposedly-water-resistant-phones/

 

[ProjectedLight]

But despite each point you made, each feature qualifies as an innovation.

By your standards, freeze-drying a turd and painting it blue is an innovation. New and useless doesn't mean innovative in this context. Bringing to market, having financial success is innovation. Why? Because Thomas Edison said so. If it doesn't sell or isnt widely adopted then it doesn't have utility, and if it doesn't have utility then it isn't successful.