Apple iPhone 5S and Apple iPhone 5C are just two of the most outstanding handsets available on the market today. Apple latest flagship phones are topnotch in terms of specs, features and performance, as with similar devices released by HTC, Samsung and Sony. With the number of choices you have, it's become a bigger challenge to compare each phone and their specs just to see which one suits you best, as with the case of Apple's iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C. And with the passing of another year comes a very important question: which smart phone should you invest your hard-earned money in?
To answer that serious dilemma, we've compiled a comparison review to make the process a little less painful for you.
Design
Apple iPhone 5S and Apple iPhone 5C are worlds apart in design. The Apple iPhone 5S carries over the iPhone 5's two-tone aluminium design, while the Apple iPhone 5C does away with this in favour of an entirely plastic chassis.
Although we immediately warmed to the design of the iPhone 5C because the design was something new and different from Apple, the iPhone 5S is undoubtedly the more premium device. It's also the smaller of the two, measuring just 7.6mm thick. As with the Apple iPhone 5, this means that the iPhone 5S sits comfortably in your hand despite its angular shape.
Some have argued that the plastic casing of the Apple iPhone 5C makes it look cheap. As we pointed out in our Apple iPhone 5C review, however, the handset feels surprisingly tough, with the smooth plastic exuding more of a quality feeling than seeming cheap.
That said, we did find it hard to grip at times due to the slick plastic, although the handset's chunkier 8.9mm casing didn't make it feel bulky.
Apple iPhone 5C is available in blue, green, pink, yellow and white, while the Apple iPhone 5S is available in white, gold and space grey.
While some will prefer the plastic casing of the Apple iPhone 5C to aluminium, the Apple iPhone 5S has an additional design feature which we think puts it ahead in this category - its Touch ID sensor.
This is a reworked Home key, and allows users to unlock the device using their fingerprint. Although it's temperamental at times, we think that this feature nudges the Apple iPhone 5S to victory in design.
Camera
In terms of camera performance, the Apple iPhone 5C and the Apple iPhone 5S come with identical forward-facing sensors. This means that for those heavily invested in the likes of Snapchat, or enjoy posting selfies to Facebook or Instagram, both handsets have you equally covered.
The difference in cameras is exclusive to the rear sensor, although both come with 8MP to capture those candid, and less so, moments.
Differences in the cameras lie deeper than just the amount of pixels that have been crammed into the sensor though. The size of the pixels on each sensor has changed, with the Apple iPhone 5S commanding larger pixels and therefore allowing more light in.
Apple iPhone 5S also comes with optical image stabilisation (OIS), helping to make images come out clearer, especially in low light conditions. Minor blurring associated with slight hand movements has been lowered as a result, if not eradicated.
Upgrades have also made over to the flash, with the Apple iPhone 5S being fitted with a dual-LED offering to make night time shots brighter and clearer, as well as bring a more natural tone to shots. This puts it above the Apple iPhone 5C that comes with only a single LED light.
In order to highlight the differences in cameras, we've taken a variety of shots so you can compare them side by side.
The larger pixel size is immediately obvious, with the image taken by the iPhone 5S coming out a lot brighter than on the Apple iPhone 5C. More detail is also noticeable on the image taken by the 5S, with more colour appearing in the sky.
Contrast is slightly higher on the 5S rather than the Apple iPhone 5C, with markings in the paint work being more prominent, and water droplets also showing up better. Zoomed in, text also comes out clearer on the iPhone 5S.
The same differences found in the postbox images are also found in the images of the cathedral. It is clear that there is more detail in the brick work, and the contrast level is a lot higher. Zoomed in, edges of the building are a lot crisper.
Throughout our flash photography we found that the Apple iPhone 5S generally produced more in focus shots, thanks to the dual-LED flash that sits next to the camera and improved processor speeds. When comparing photos there is a slight difference, although it's not as huge as you might think.
The larger pixels in the iPhone 5S come into play in darker scenes, allowing a lot more light to hit the sensor. This allows the 5S to produce a brighter image, with far more detail being captured; it is possible to make out brick work on the building opposite in the image taken by the 5S, but not the 5C. Light streaks are also largely eliminated.
Connectivity and 4G support
On the connectivity front, the Apple iPhone 5C is largely the same as the iPhone 5 with the Lightning connector, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS.
A key difference is support for more 4G LTE frequency bands. Apple states that the iPhone 5C is compatible with EE and Vodafone's networks in the UK but O2 confirmed that the smartphone, along with the flagship Apple iPhone 5S will support it's network.
"And One More Thing...Yes iPhone 5S and 5C will support 4G on O2. More info coming soon." tweeted O2.
O2 uses the same 800 MHz frequency which Three will use when it launches its 4G and the latter is taking registrations for the new iPhones with advertising for 4G so it's all good on this front too.
Display
While they are worlds apart in design, the Apple iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C both have the same 4in 640x1136 resolution display with a pixel density of 326ppi.
Of course, while it's impossible to pick a winner in this category, it's worth noting that the screen on both the Apple iPhone 5S and Apple iPhone 5C remains one of the best smartphone displays on the market, producing crystal-clear images and sharply defined text.
Storage and Touch ID
Internal storage is relatively similar on both the Apple iPhone 5S and the Apple iPhone 5C. Both come with 16GB and 32GB models, although the 64GB model is only available on the 5S.
Given that Apple has never supported additional storage through the likes of microSD, storage is a hotter topic on iPhones than it is on most other handsets - although many are now following Apple's lead.
We're getting more and more conscious of just how much storage is needed on handsets, but Apple has always given the iPhone a very heavy media slant, starting life as a combination of the iPod and a standard mobile phone.
If you're like us, you'll have a rather hefty catalogue of music and HD movies that you'll want to pop onto your new iPhone, as well as a range of gaming and productivity apps. This means that the smaller storage option can often be left feeling a little wanting.
The 32GB option is a rather nice compromise, and should provide enough storage to last a typical two year contract. For those with really hefty media libraries, or those that are heavily into mobile gaming, the 64GB found only on the iPhone 5S is a must.
It isn't just the massive storage that is reserved for the iPhone 5S, with Apple also reserving one of its other innovations for the 5S. For those that haven't heard, Touch ID is a capacitive finger print scanner built into the home button.
Building the scanner into the home button was a stroke of genius, allowing swift and easy unlocking, saving the few seconds that it takes to input a pass code. It can also be used to safeguard iTunes purchases, so lending your Apple iPhone 5S to someone won't result in a hefty bank statement.
Having this technology built into the Apple iPhone 5S is part of the reason that it commands a higher price tag. We can see it being a fantastically helpful feature for parents that loan their iPhone to their kids, and for those that are very privacy conscious.
It is also a feature that has yet to take off widely, although it comes (rather awkwardly placed) on the HTC One Max and is rumoured to appear on the Samsung Galaxy S5.
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