7 Things To Know About Apple's iPhone 5S And iPhone 5C

Two New Apple Devices

The wait is over. Apple revealed Tuesday not one but two new iPhones, the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, only a few days short of a year since the iPhone 5 hit the market. The iPhone 5S sports a handful of improvements over its successor and starts at $199 with contract. The iPhone 5C, on the other hand, is a smartphone on a diet, and the $99 price tag reflects it. Still up for debate is the question consumers and channel partners have been asking since the release of new Apple products have gradually moved further and further apart: Is Apple losing its innovation edge? Here is a glance at seven things to know about Apple's new iPhone news.

Budget iPhone

Today's Apple announcement involved two separate smartphones appealing to two different demographics. Smartphones have become less the exception and more the norm, according to a Gartner report revealing smartphones have surpassed feature phones for the first time in history. Though Apple once dominated the smartphone market, they are now faced with more competitors, more widespread innovation and a smaller slice of the market share. The iPhone 5C is Apple's version of a budget smartphone. The company hopes a budget iPhone will compete better with other low-cost smartphones on the market and wrangle in a new set of Apple lovers who have yet to buy into the bells and whistles of the advanced devices.

Fingerprint Identification

Rather than punching in a four-digit password to unlock the iPhone 5S, users can now take advantage of fingerprint identification security, called Touch ID. The fingerprint identification sensor is housed at the home button and can identify a user's fingerprint regardless of the angle at which the user places his or her finger. Additionally, users have the option to register more than one fingerprint, allowing trusted persons to also have access to the smartphone. Even further, fingerprint identification can be used to make purchases within the App Store, iTunes or iBooks.

Faster Chip

Claimed by Apple to be "the first 64-bit chip in the world," the new A7 chip in the iPhone 5S is said to run twice as fast as the A6 chip in the iPhone 5. Apple said the camera app alone will autofocus in half the time it took before, and graphics in games will look exponentially more realistic. Historically, Apple chips have been outsourced to Samsung. Though speculation is swirling that Apple will be returning to Samsung to manufacture future chips, this A7 chip was produced by Taiwanese company TSMC. Apple said iOS 7 was created with the A7 chip in mind.

iOS 7

Apple developers got their hands on iOS 7 back in June at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference and have been shuffling through a series of Beta versions ever since. With the announcements today, both the iPhone 5S as well as the iPhone 5C will come loaded with iOS 7. In true Apple fashion, every iPhone will be getting an operating system upgrade so long as it is an iPhone 4 or later version. A slick new design interface, an improved Siri, new gesture capabilities and a consortium of new features like Control Center and AirDrop are all included in the new operating system.

A New Rainbow

"C" could stand for color in the newly dubbed iPhone 5C. Not unlike the iPod mini line up, the plastic shells of the iPhone 5C come in a rainbow of colors: blue, yellow, green, pink and white. The iPhone 5S also sports a color palate new to the iPhone lineup. Instead of the traditional white, black and grey options, the iPhone 5S is offered in gold, silver and space grey.

Camera

Apple's iSight camera got a facelift with the announcements today. Not only can the iPhone 5S take panoramic photos, but it can also snap 10 photos per second in "continuous burst mode" or replay video recordings in slow motion. Additionally, a number of filters can be applied and removed to a photograph before or after the photo is taken. With a 15 percent larger sensor and larger pixels, Apple claims the iPhone 5S is the answer to shooting photographs in less than optimal lighting situations.

Productivity Machine

In the face of the BYOD movement, it has become more and more important to have mobile devices capable of receiving and creating content at any given place or time in relation to work. One of the advantages cited for a convertible or hybrid device is more flexibility to create content easily. Apple has made production tools including iPhoto, iMovie, Pages, Keynote and Numbers all available free of charge via the App Store for the iPhone 5S. Essentially, the new iPhone could have the capability of high production on a small screen.