Here’s the lowdown on Apple’s newest creations: The iPhone 5c is slightly more technologically advanced than the iPhone 5, is covered in colored plastic, and comes at a cheaper price ($99 for 16 GB). The iPhone 5s has the traditional look of the iPhone and has the latest technology available for a smartphone. Apple has displayed their prediction that the 5c will be a big hit, over the 5s with the advertisement: “Plastic Perfected.” If Apple is right in emphasizing the 5c, the explanation is a desire for “shownership” and concerns about privacy over internal improvements. The lack of longing for improvements is due to the fact that the iPhone 4 and 5 already have the necessary features, so that the added elements offered by the iPhone 5s may be unnecessary.
The iPhone 5s
Differences between the 5s and the 5 are not as much visible as they are internal. For example, the most notable feature is the Touch ID fingerprint scanner, which is embedded directly into the home button. Moreover, it has the option of 64-bit support, which is more than any other smartphone. The 5s introduces better camera options with an improved iSight rear camera and FaceTime HD front-facing shooter. This means that it can shoot slow-motion video and take up to 10 pictures per second (whereas the 5Callows for continuous shooting, but only at about 2.5 shots per second).
As cool as a fingerprint scanner is, it is rather unnecessary (isn’t a 4 digit privacy code enough?) and even controversial. The fingerprint scanner brings up concerns about privacy, an issue that is particularly relevant today after violations of privacy such as mass surveillance. Once your fingerprint is scanned in, it is difficult to control who or what app has access to the file that stores this information. This new scanner is nearly every hacker’s dream. It has become a publically announced fear in the UK because it can potentially be used to track employees.
The iPhone 5c
The iPhone 5c, like the iPhone 5s, is said to have better standby power than the iPhone 5, with about a day and a half. It also has much better (up to 130 band) LTE band support. In addition, its lock/power button is the same as the volume buttons, which could help Apple save on manufacturing costs, and there’s a simple, four-hole single speaker grill on the bottom, whereas the metal designs have two grills, each with two rows of holes. The front-facing camera of the 5c is better than previous models, though not quite up to the status of the 5s.
The “psychology of the new” seems to be at play in regard to the iPhone 5c, as New York Times author, Jenna Wortham, claims. The “psychology of the new” is the idea that people want other people to know that they have just purchased an item. In the past, we could not clearly convey that we had the latest iPhone because up until this point, each model has been pretty much indistinguishable from the previous, (i.e. it is nearly impossible to tell an iPhone 4 from an iPhone 5, and now an iPhone 5s). The market most susceptible to “shownership” is the main target for the iPhone 5c: young people who may be getting their first smartphone or moving up from a lesser smartphone to an iPhone. The 5c is designed for this category. It is light, colorful, and filled with personality.
Which one will it be?
In the next couple of weeks we will see if the aestheticism of the 5c really does get placed above the cutting edge technology that the 5s offers. On a larger scale, with the “psychology of the new” and the privacy concerns embedded in these two products, if the iPhone 5c does take off as predicted, we will be right in line with our values as a culture today.