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Apple officially unveils the next-gen ‘iPhone 5S’ w/ fingerprint sensor & new gold color option

As we were expecting, Apple just officially announced its new iPhone 5S live on stage during its event taking place now on the company’s Cupertino campus. The new iPhone 5S largely retains the same glass and aluminum design as Apple’s previous generation iPhone, but it does include upgraded internals, and a new gold color option and fingerprint sensor that we previously reported. The new iPhone 5S comes alongside the announcement of Apple’s much rumored lower-cost, plastic iPhone 5C unveiled during the event earlier today.

The iPhone 5s includes a new A7 chip, which Apple notes is the first 64-bit chip in a smartphone, something we reported previously that the company was testing. Apple says the new chip includes 2x general-purpose registers, 2x floating-point registers, and includes over 1 billion transistors on a 102mm2 die size. A7 makes the iPhone 5s over twice as fast in terms of speed, according to Apple, and also provides a 40x increase in CPU performance and 56X faster graphics. The new iPhone 5s hardware will also support Open GL/ES 3.0 and will still support 32 bit apps.

TouchID-iPhone5S-fingerprint-sensor-01Apple is also including a fingerprint sensor in the new iPhone 5s for a new security feature dubbed “Touch ID.” Embedded into the home button, the Touch ID capacitive sensor is 170 microns thin and will not only allow users to unlock their device, but also authenticate iTunes purchases.  Apple says that all fingerprints will be encrypted, stored securely and never uploaded to iCloud or its own servers. It also noted the fingerprint sensor will be able to support multiple fingerprints with the same device

The new iPhone 5s also include a new motion co-processor called the “M7” that Apple says works alongside the A7. It’s able to measure motion data continuously, as well as measure gyroscope, compass, and accelerometer data.

M7 knows when you’re walking, running, or even driving. For example, Maps switches from driving to walking turn-by-turn navigation if, say, you park and continue on foot. Since M7 can tell when you’re in a moving vehicle, iPhone 5s won’t ask you to join Wi-Fi networks you pass by. And if your phone hasn’t moved for a while, like when you’re asleep, M7 reduces network pinging to spare your battery.

The new chip will work with new CoreMotion APIs in iOS 7 that will allow developers to identify user movement. The first to take advantage of the technology is Nike with a new app called “Nike+ Move”.

Battery life: Apple says the new iPhone 5S will get 10 hours of 3G talk time, 8 hours of 3G browsing,a nd 10 hours of LTE and WiFi browsing. You’ll also get around 250 hours standby and 10 hours of video, according to Apple.

The iPhone 5s packs in a new camera system with a dual LED true tone flash, a new five-element lens designed by Apple, a F2.2 aperture, a sensor with a 15 percent larger active area, auto stabilization, and bigger 1.5 micron pixels. The camera also includes a new burst mode that will continuously take photos a rate of 10fps, and the 120fps slow mo mode that we reported about back in July. Head below for iPhone 5s pricing and availability:

Apple’s new iPhone 5S will sell for $199 for the 16GB model, $299 for the 32GB model, and $399 for the 64GB model on the usual two-year contract. The device will be available to purchase on September 20 in the US, Australia, China, Canada, Germany, France, Singapore, UK, and Japan. There are also new cases from Apple that will sell for $39. Apple plans to roll out the new iPhones to 100 countries and 270 carriers by December.

The device comes in a new gold color option in addition to the white/silver and black/slate (now called space grey) options that we’re previously available on the iPhone 5. Apple has full tech specs for the iPhone 5s on its website here. 

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Comments

  1. how much do you think it will cost unlocked?

  2. sketchyDCF (@sketchyDCF) - 11 years ago

    ok so the oddest thing to me about the iphone announcement today is that if you want a black phone, which is still arguably the basic standard, your 2 choices are the free 4S or the $199 (and up) 5S. No black 5C or 5 for $99.

    • PMZanetti - 11 years ago

      Not odd in the least. Black is a popular color, and some people will opt for the (more expensive) 5S to get black.

      • shirlosh - 11 years ago

        I want iphone 5s black matte..;(

    • Mr. Grey (@mister_grey) - 11 years ago

      Worse than that, there is no “black” iPhone 5s, it’s actually grey with black inserts. So all black iPhones have now been discontinued except for the two year old 30-pin iPhone 4s.

      If you have one of last years black iPhone 5’s, it just went up in price on Craig’s list.

      • Marco Wenk (@wenkmarco) - 11 years ago

        actually the 4S has a silver frame and the one from the 5s is grey, so it’s ‘more’ black…

  3. Nathan Pritchard - 11 years ago

    Pretty sure “40x increase in CPU performance and 56X faster graphics” was compared to the original iPhone, not the last iPhone…

  4. PMZanetti - 11 years ago

    Space Gray is new and not at all like the previous slate/black. Take a look at it.

    Worth correcting.

  5. Mac Pro???

  6. Yes (@AMillah) - 11 years ago

    Space Grey is not Slate. Its a new color. Yea, that same “graphite” color which you guys here at 9to5 spent a bit of time trying to discredit saying it wouldn’t be real…lol, oops.

  7. Nikola Kuhar - 11 years ago

    I wonder if the iPad 5 will have the fingerprint sensor. I hope OS X gets this feature. Magic Mouse & Track Pad with a fingerprint sensor.

  8. Christopher Columbus - 11 years ago

    the unlocked price for 64GB model is $849

  9. bobborries (@bobborries) - 11 years ago

    “Gun Metal” is the un-politically correct way to say “Space Gray”

    • Mr. Grey (@mister_grey) - 11 years ago

      “Gun metal” is actually a blue-grey or a black-grey with a blue sheen on the surface. “Space Grey” is not even close to that, so no …

      … this actually has nothing to do with guns, “gun metal” or with PC language.

  10. Mr. Grey (@mister_grey) - 11 years ago

    The biggest thing that bothers me about the new line-up is that there is only one choice now for a 64GB phone which is the iPhone 5s. (Well, that and the fact that they are all hideously ugly except for the white iPhone 5s).

  11. Nakul Bhatnagar - 11 years ago

    Anyone have any idea as to what time the pre-orders will begin?

  12. yuniverse7 - 11 years ago

    What i don’t understand is why would apple put out ac capable router but leave it off of the flagship iPhone? Why on earth would i need ac capable router if I won’t be able to use it for another year or so?

  13. Faith Jones - 8 years ago

    iphone4s is better cause you can do enything and its chargers quick

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.