Apple iPhone 5C Unveiled: 5 Different Colors, But Features, Tech Specs Identical To iPhone 5

The iPhone 5C was unveiled by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Tuesday in Cupertino, Calif., alongside the company’s iPhone 5S. The iPhone 5C will ship in five different colors, along with technical specs similar to last year’s iPhone 5, with an improved battery design.

The iPhone 5C features a 4-inch Retina display packing 326 pixels-per-inch (ppi), and A6 processor, a FaceTime HD front-facing camera and an 8-megapixel rear side camera, specs International Business Times suggested in earlier reports. Apple is expected to release the iPhone 5C on Sept. 20 in the U.S. for $99 (16GB) or $199 (32GB) on-contract.

Apple will release the iPhone 5C in an array of five color options including white, pink, yellow, green and blue, as Apple shifts from aluminum construction to a single piece of "hard-coated" polycarbonate that undergoes a "layered" manufacturing process. Apple will release the iPhone 5C alongside a series of $29 colored cases, made of "soft-feel silicon rubber," and Senior VP of Design Jony Ive said the company has taken "the same fanatical care" as previous iPhones to design "how the iPhone 5C feels in your hand."

The iPhone 5C will ship with 16GB or 32GB of storage, and will run Apple's newest operating system, iOS 7. The iPhone 5C features a steel-reinforced interior that also acts as an antenna, and a battery improved over the iPhone 5. The iPhone 5C features the standard home button found on previous Apple releases, as opposed to the fingerprint scanner found on its higher-end sibling, the iPhone 5S. The iPhone 5S will replace the iPhone 5 in Apple's mobile lineup.

The iPhone 5C specs an A6 system on a chip, or SoC, custom-designed by Apple that includes a 1.3 GHz, dual-core main processor (CPU) paired with a triple-core graphic processing unit, or GPU. The iPhone 5C’s A6 chip first debuted in 2012 with the iPhone 5, and features 1GB of memory (RAM), capable of running multiple apps. Most new smartphones released this year incorporate at least 1GB of RAM, whereas the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will be the first smartphone to release with 3GB of memory.

By utilizing a lower-cost polycarbonate shell and an existing supply of slightly older technology, Apple is able to offer the iPhone 5C at a much lower price point, which will allow Apple to fill some of the market gap currently occupied by lower-cost Android devices. Many analysts have suggested that a lower-cost iPhone 5C will also allow Apple to reach untapped portions of emerging markets in China and India. Apple reportedly has developed the iPhone 5C to manufacture a lower-price device to the 703 million customers of China Mobile Ltd. (NYSE:CHL), the largest telecommunications firm in the world.

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