Apple unveils two new iPhones & iOS 7

[Tsutarja]

I'm really astonished at the off-contract price of the iPhone 5c.. I mean, that phone was supposed to be "affordable", yet there are several Android (and maybe even Windows) phones that are more durable than the plastic 5c and have a lower off-contract price.

But as for the fingerprint scanner, that is something I have to applaud Apple for.

 

[New Eden]

Somewhat interesting but...overall pretty unremarkable. Some of this stuff is what Apple should had implemented ages ago. But it's Apple, so what is there to expect?

 

[Echidna]

But as for the fingerprint scanner, that is something I have to applaud Apple for.

Meh. A good deal of the high pricing is because of this "great technological innovation" that they've added to their phones, an innovation that honestly has little to no use. What is so important on my phone that needs that kind of protection? Idk.

It would have been better if they'd set up some interesting features (like the Galaxy series features) instead of, this.

 

[Livewire]

Apple fanboyism aside:

I like the idea of Apple recognizing the need for a more readily available, cheaper phone, that doesn't scream upper-middle class like the 4s and 5 did, with the premium materials and the all-around 'richer' aspect of it. A cheap phone (With a contract, that is) that puts all that technological power in people's hands is noble, I think. And I do like the 5c's colors, allows for more individual customization, there's a little more diversity in the choice.

As for iOS 7, I think it looks incredibly clean and futuristic looking, even if it's essentially a Samsung galaxy ripoff. The moving, dynamic wallpaper option is neat, I wish they went to that sooner. Imagine if it could change to a weather pattern to reflect the weather outside?

As for the 5s, from what I saw, it looked essentially the same, verbatim, as the 5, just with that fingerprint technology, which is admittedly cool, but feels more like a gimmick to me, at least. And I don't really care for the gold color scheme, I'd much prefer either the 5c's colors or a crisper matte black/grey.

All in all, though, while I think this will be a goldmine for Apple, I would stop short of calling this the way they re-assert the dominance they enjoyed before the advent of Samsung and before Job's death in 2011. This will help I think, but I don't think they've really innovated enough with this generation. Not to keep pace with Samsung and the Windows Phone.

 

[Kanzler]

The 5C's gonna retail around $549 off contract :( It's still just as expensive as the competition. It's not something I'd readily afford, anyways.

 

[Echidna]

The 5C's gonna retail around $549 off contract :( It's still just as expensive as the competition. It's not something I'd readily afford, anyways.

Yes, the cheap option.

Me neither. ;;

 

[\/]

Yes but what is unique about American companies is that they only care about the money. Seriously.

Do you have any examples of American companies only caring about money, compared to the rest of the world's companies?

What is so important on my phone that needs that kind of protection? Idk.

Off the top of my head government workers, corporate workers, adulterers, spies, and teens with naughty pictures might want or need that level of security.

As for everyone else it saves you time typing or swiping a password to unlock the phone and prevents you from having to type your password each time you download an app or in-app purchase. (One of the main reasons I was considering switching back to Android.)

 

[Kanzler]

Ehh, it's a feature that's evolutionary instead of revolutionary and tells me that I'm going to be paying for it. I don't want to feel like I'm paying more than I have to for an already expensive product ._.

And also, it is about the money. The customer is king. The company can decide to save some face and make the overseas product less profitable, but the profit's worth it I guess. It still comes across as a slap in the face for non-Americans. Setting the price to an equal amount of dollars in euros is just as arbitrary as setting the price to come up to the same after all tariffs. It's still how they do business.

 

[Echidna]

Do you have any examples of American companies only caring about money, compared to the rest of the world's companies?

Nintendo/Sony > Microsoft
Samsung > Apple
Toshiba > Dell

Ironically all of those are Japanese / American.
I would go into detail but I think you have the picture.

EDIT:

Ok so Samsung is Korean. I'll go kill myself now bye.

Off the top of my head government workers, corporate workers, adulterers, spies, and teens with naughty pictures might want or need that level of security.

As for everyone else it saves you time typing or swiping a password to unlock the phone and prevents you from having to type your password each time you download an app or in-app purchase. (One of the main reasons I was considering switching back to Android.)

A) Government personnel who carry sensitive information on their phones are stupid, put bluntly. Also, their phones are usually, I suspect, backed up with more firewall protection than Apple could even think of.
Same goes for corporate workers. Most large companies work an internal system where you're not allowed to take anything back home with you let alone download it to your phone.

B) People have never complained about that... ? Why now just because there's an alternative?

 

[nimbo]

The thing is, I don't think Apple ever said that the 5c was going to be "cheaper", I think that was all of the rumors/speculations. So the price doesn't surprise me all too much.

 

[Tsutarja]

The thing is, I don't think Apple ever said that the 5c was going to be "cheaper", I think that was all of the rumors/speculations. So the price doesn't surprise me all too much.

For the record, it is cheaper on contract prices than the 5s.. it's outrageous that the 5c is $99 on contract, but as much as $549 for the 16 GB 5c and $649 for the 32 GB off-contract. Quite the price range there if you ask me.

 

[Amore]

They're never going to beat Samsung globally - they wouldn't compromise their standards (high price and quality) to a large enough extent to outsell them. Before you say "ah, but the Chinese are getting richer" guess what? The price of the iPhone will go up to accomodate this fact.
In "the West" though, this refresh could swing a lot of people over.

Personally I really like the look of iOS7. The fingerprint scanner on the 5S intrigues me, but something that risky there's no way I'm buying the first edition. The "low-cost" rumours around the 5C turned out not to be quite so true but on contract, a 32GB 5C is actually only £10 more than a 16GB 5, and £100 cheaper than a 16GB 5S.
The storage has sold me on the 5C, the colours are what's stopped me pre-ordering it. I'm going to get one of their dotted cases, but I need to see the phones in the flesh as with such bold colours I could easily end up hating my phone. Probably going to combine Blue and Green/Pink (depending on how pink "pink" is). The idea of them shipping each phone with the backgrounds set by default to match its colours is also pretty darn cool if you ask me.
Still though, love this:

Takes corporate Twitter trolling to a whole new level xD

 

[PkmnTrainerElio]

Aren't these things released like every year?

 

[Echidna]

Aren't these things released like every year?

Yes because hard-core Apple fans really like the product so apparently Apple wants to milk the iPhone to its fullest, in turn making a lot of cash on peoples' expense!

America.

 

[Livewire]

They're never going to beat Samsung globally - they wouldn't compromise their standards (high price and quality) to a large enough extent to outsell them. Before you say "ah, but the Chinese are getting richer" guess what? The price of the iPhone will go up to accomodate this fact.
In "the West" though, this refresh could swing a lot of people over.

Personally I really like the look of iOS7. The fingerprint scanner on the 5S intrigues me, but something that risky there's no way I'm buying the first edition. The "low-cost" rumours around the 5C turned out not to be quite so true but on contract, a 32GB 5C is actually only £10 more than a 16GB 5, and £100 cheaper than a 16GB 5S.
The storage has sold me on the 5C, the colours are what's stopped me pre-ordering it. I'm going to get one of their dotted cases, but I need to see the phones in the flesh as with such bold colours I could easily end up hating my phone. Probably going to combine Blue and Green/Pink (depending on how pink "pink" is). The idea of them shipping each phone with the backgrounds set by default to match its colours is also pretty darn cool if you ask me.
Still though, love this:

Takes corporate Twitter trolling to a whole new level xD

Props to Windows on that, hahaha.

I'm not very confident that Apple will be able to live down the fact that it pilfered from Windows & Samsung. Only more proof that they're past the innovator stage and are the ones taking brilliant bits from other companies in order to stay relevant. Jobs is screaming somewhere I'm sure. But hey, if it brings in the dollars, it can't be that bad.

 

[Dter ic]

For the record, it is cheaper on contract prices than the 5s.. it's outrageous that the 5c is $99 on contract, but as much as $549 for the 16 GB 5c and $649 for the 32 GB off-contract. Quite the price range there if you ask me.

And reminds me how much does it cost if both of them were off contract? I don't believe the 5C is that that cheap compared to the 5S since the 5C will set you back $550 at least.

and lol if you look at the back of the iPhone with the case they're promoting it says 'non'

Spoiler:

 

[Mr. X]

Ah, a gold colored iPhone... I can think of no better way of asking to be mugged.

Even then, the price differences for the higher capacity is a rip off. The storage is no diffrent from any SD card your pull off the shelf. a 16 gb would be 14, and a 32 would be 26. Put in a extra 12 worth of memory, jack the price up by a hundred. Hell of a markup.

Ah well. Plenty of suckers that need to be relieved of their money.

 

[\/]

Nintendo/Sony > Microsoft
Samsung > Apple
Toshiba > Dell

Ironically all of those are Japanese / American.
I would go into detail but I think you have the picture.

Yes because hard-core Apple fans really like the product so apparently Apple wants to milk the iPhone to its fullest, in turn making a lot of cash on peoples' expense!

America.

Feel free to go into detail because I don't have the same picture of those companies as you do.

Which part of Japan is Samsung from? As far as the other 'Japanese' companies go, in their heyday they were much like Apple, releasing new products in the same category every year, many more in fact - possibly one of the reasons they are all struggling now.

A) Government personnel who carry sensitive information on their phones are stupid, put bluntly. Also, their phones are usually, I suspect, backed up with more firewall protection than Apple could even think of.
Same goes for corporate workers. Most large companies work an internal system where you're not allowed to take anything back home with you let alone download it to your phone.

B) People have never complained about that... ? Why now just because there's an alternative?

A) Some people apparently have a need to carry sensitive information on their phones. I remember seeing a picture of Obama's $3,000+ NSA-certified phone from General Dynamics, there is no way stingy government agencies (particularly the military - note the Dragonskin armor fiasco) will pay that much to issue those to everyone so they have to resort to mainstream phones.
B) Its a somewhat common complaint among people who switch from Android to iOS, (as I had to recently) something iOS has required for a long time and is completely absurd.

 

[Tsutarja]

Guys, please don't turn this thread into an argument thread about companies other than Apple being better. This thread was meant to discuss the news from Apple from this past Tuesday, not to bash Apple. If this keeps up, then I'll have to unfortunately close this thread.

 

[Andrew]

My overall reaction to the new phones: Meh.

Do I want one? Yes. Simply because it's an upgrade from my 4S (which I can't get because I can't upgrade for about a year), but it's nothing mind blowing. The fingerprint scanner is really cool, but overall, the 5S is just a 5 with a better processor (which is definitely a good thing, but not exactly innovative). If they were going for "affordable" with the 5C, they failed. Off contract $300 or $400 is "affordable", not $550.

My reaction to iOS 7: Awesome. Fantastic. Best iOS yet. I installed the GM version a few days ago and I love it. The design is sleek and appealing, and the new features are great. The major reason I jailbroke previous iOS versions was to add options that are now available in the control center (quick toggles for WiFi, Airplane Mode, Flashlight, full music control, etc). Dynamic Wallpapers are a great feature, but should have been added a long time ago. Unlimited folder space is another thing that should have been added a long time ago, but I'm glad it was finally included. Overall, I'm super happy with iOS 7 and I think Apple did a great job with it.

TL;DR New iPhones? Meh. iOS 7? Awesome.