Apple's hugely colorful iPhone 5c is going to become obsolete starting next month, according to a new report based on a memo sent out to Apple's authorized service providers.

The news means that anyone who has an iPhone 5c that needs parts or repairs is going to be out of luck. The third-generation iPad mini with both Wi-Fi and cellular will also be added to the same obsolete list in November, too.

So many colors

The iPhone 5c was first released way back in September of 2013 and became a must-have phone for people who wanted something a little more colorful than the standard iPhone options. Now, MacRumors reports that it has seen a memo that went out to authorized service providers, telling them that as of November 1, "Apple will mark the ‌iPhone‌ 5c as an obsolete product, ending all repairs and services."

When Apple released the iPhone 5c in 2013 it called it "unapologetically plastic" and sold it in colors that included pink, yellow, green, white, and blue — a personal favorite. It was also a phone that was made available with special cases that had holes in them to ensure that the color of the iPhone itself could still be seen.

The iPhone 5c was in many ways the precursor to the iPhone XR and iPhone SE — mode budget-friendly devices that come in colorful options that are sold alongside more premium versions. Unfortunately, those premium versions often come in less exciting colors, too.

Apple regularly adds products to its obsolete and vintage lists as they become older, controlling how and when Apple Stores and repair centers go about helping people who need repairs and service.

If you're carrying an iPhone 5c now, it's very much time to consider an upgrade. The brand new iPhone 14 is a good shout, while those looking for the very best iPhone need look no further than the iPhone 14 Pro.

What you need to know

• The iPhone 5c has been added to the vintage list.
• The phone will still be eligible for technical support at Apple Stores and authorized service providers.
• The Mid 2014 model of the 15-inch MacBook Pro has also been added to the list.

Reported by 9to5Mac, the iPhone 5C has officially become a vintage Apple product. Apple updated its vintage and obsolete product list to add the device, which means that technical support for the iPhone 5c is now limited.

As noted in the report, Apple products are considered vintage if they have not been sold for more than five years. While Apple used to only offer support for these devices in its retail locations, customers can also receive support at authorized service providers as long as components remain available.

The iPhone 5c will become completely obsolete in 2022 when it will no longer receive any kind of technical support. Apple supports its iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, and Apple TV for seven years after it stops selling the device.

The iPhone 5c was originally suspected of being added to the vintage and obsolete list back at the beginning of October. A leaked internal memo said that both the iPhone 5c and Mid 2014 model of the 15-inch MacBook Pro would be added to the vintage and obsolete list, which appears to be spot on.

The Mid 2014 model of the 15-inch MacBook Pro will also still be eligible for technical support at Apple Stores and authorized service providers.

What you need to know

• The iPhone 5c and the Mid 2014 15-inch MacBook Pro are hitting the vintage and obsolete list.
• Both devices will be added to the list on October 31.
• MacRumors obtained the information in a leaked internal memo.

Reported by MacRumors, Apple will be adding the iPhone 5c to its list of vintage and obsolete products. It will also be adding the Mid 2014 model of the 15-inch MacBook Pro to the list as well. The outlet says that both devices will be added to the lists officially on October 31 according to a leaked internal memo.

According to the report, both the iPhone 5c and the Mid 2014 model of the 15-inch MacBook Pro will both be eligible to service indefinitely.

The iPhone 5c was the last time that Apple released a plastic iPhone. Released along with the iPhone 5S back in 2013, the iPhone 5c was, for lack of a better description, the iPhone SE before the iPhone SE was actually released in 2016. It was a phone that sacrificed on some newer features to hit a lower price point for the masses. Apple abandoned the idea after sales of the product didn't meet expectations and the company got away from plastics as part of its focus on environmental impact.

The news of the iPhone 5c hitting the vintage and obsolete list comes on the same day that Apple has announced that its "Hi, Speed" event will occur on October 13th where the company is expected to announce its iPhone 12 lineup. There are also rumors that Apple could unveil its long-anticipated AirTags, AirPods Studio, and HomePod mini.

Foremost iOS digital forensics expert, Jonathan Zdziarski, has written and posted an open letter to FBI Director James Comey, explaining why he thinks it is a mistake to keep secret the tool used to hack the San Bernardino terrorist's iPhone.

On March 21, the day Apple unveiled the iPhone SE and Tim Cook stood on stage talking about how he "didn't expect to be in this position," the FBI acknowledged that it had found a way into Syed Farook's iPhone 5c. Zdziarski notes that keeping the tool a secret from Apple — even though Comey said it wasn't capable of cracking into newer versions of the iPhone — is a mistake. He writes:

He says that Apple knew its phones were vulnerable to tools such as the one used to get into the iPhone 5c, which is why, with the iPhone 5s, it introduced a Secure Enclave:

He concludes that it is important to share this information with Apple itself:

If you're experiencing issues with the headphone jack in your iPhone 5c and software troubleshooting just isn't doing the trick, a DIY repair may be required. Symptoms of a defective or faulty headphone jack can include distorted sounds, crackling, sounds cutting in and out, and in some cases, no sound at all. In rare cases, a faulty headphone jack can also cause regular sounds to not work if iOS thinks headphones are plugged in when they're not.

If any of these scenarios sounds like something you're experiencing, follow along and we'll walk you through where to get parts and tools and how to DIY replace the headphone jack in your iPhone 5c for a fraction of the cost of a new iPhone!

What you need to replace an iPhone 5c dock assembly

You'll need some tools and parts in order to repair your iPhone 5c. iMore recommends using only quality and genuine parts from a reputable supplier like iFixYouri. They have quality parts, tools, and much more for all your repair needs.

• Replacement Lightning dock & headphone jack assembly
• Suction cup
• 5-point security screwdriver
• Standard #000 Phillips screwdriver
• Spudger tool
• Razor blade
• iSesamo Opening tool (not necessary but awesome for prying up cables and getting under adhesive)

As you can see from the parts list above, we'll be replacing the entire dock assembly since the headphone jack is connected to it.

1. Power off your iPhone 5c

Before performing any repair on any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch you should always remember to power it off. Simply hold down on the Power button until you see Slide to Power off. One you're sure your iPhone is turned off, proceed to the next section.

2. Remove the two security screws on both sides of the dock connector

There are two security screws that secure the screen to the frame and they sit on each side of the dock connector. Use your 5-point security screwdriver to remove them. They are both the same size so it's okay if you mix them up.

3. Remove the display assembly

1. Place your suction cup slightly above the Home button assembly and secure it to the screen.

2. Holding the iPhone in place with one hand, gently pull upwards on the suction cup until you free the bottom of the screen. You should now be able to use your fingers to slowly raise up the screen and expose where the front assembly is connected to the logic board.
3. Remove the four screws holding down the shield that covers the display cables. To do this, use your #000 screwdriver. These screws are different sizes so make sure you keep them organized in a way you can remember for re-assembly.

4. Once all four screws are removed, carefully remove the shield and set it aside.

5. Now use your spudger tool in order to remove the three cables shown in the image below.

6. The display assembly should now be free from the body of the phone. Go ahead and set the display assembly aside.

4. Disconnect the battery

We don't need to completely remove the battery for this repair but it's always a good idea to disconnect the battery before removing and replacing internal components in order to prevent a short from occurring.

1. Remove the two screws holding down the battery cable using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

2. Gently lift the battery shield out of your iPhone 5c and carefully set it aside.

3. Use your spudger tool to carefully pry up the battery cable.

4. That's it. We don't need to go any further. Just remember to keep track of the shield and what order the two screws came out.

5. Remove the loudspeaker assembly

1. Start by carefully peeling up the adhesive shown in the photos below using your pry tool or iSesamo opening tool taking care not to tear it. This cable works in conjunction with your home button. It does not come completely out. You only want it to be detached from the speaker enclosure.

2. Now remove the three screws shown in the photo below using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

3. Disconnect the small circular gold connector using your spudger tool. This is located under where you disconnected the battery. Pay attention to the adhesive that is holding it down. It's quite easy to break but take your time so you don't break the cable itself.

4. The speaker enclosure can now be lifted out of your iPhone 5c. Just take care not to snag the dock, logic board or any cables while removing it. The photo below shows the best way to grab hold of the speaker assembly.

6. Replace the Lightning dock & headphone jack assembly

1. Start by using your spudger tool to disconnect the single cable that connects the dock to the logic board. It is above where the battery connector is located.

2. Use your #000 Phillips screwdriver to remove the remaining 4 screws that hold the dock in place. They are outlined below.

3. The dock assembly is now ready to be peeled out. The only thing holding it in now is adhesive. The easiest place to start is by peeling where the cable connects to the board. Once you get to the actual dock, use your spudger tool, or iSesamo opening tool which is what I prefer, in order to break the foam adhesive around the Lightning connector.

4. Use your pry tool or any opening tool in order to pop off the rubber gasket that sits next to the headphone jack. It doesn't come off completely. You just need to pop it away from the frame.

5. Use your pry tool or iSesamo opening tool in order to break the adhesive around the headphone jack, which is also part of the dock assembly. You may need to use a finger on your other hand to work it up and around the battery.

6. Now use your opening tool to remove the rest of the adhesive under the dock assembly, taking care not to tear anything. The dock should now come free from your iPhone 5c.

7. Check out your old dock compared to your new one and make sure they look exactly the same. Peel off any adhesive backing on the new dock. This is also a good time to remove any old adhesive from inside the frame of your iPhone.

8. Start by lining up the headphone jack and Lightning dock assembly with the screw holes. You can also lay the adhesive on the right side of the dock at this time and re-connect the cable to the logic board to ensure a good fit.

9. Once you're confident the dock is lined up, replace the four screws you removed earlier using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

10. Now is a good time to plug in a charging cable and a pair of headphones to ensure a good fit. If you can't push one or the other in all the way (or both), the dock is lined up incorrectly and needs to be repositioned. Better to figure this out now instead of when you have reassembled your entire iPhone.

11. If everything is lined up and looks good, you can move on to putting the loud speaker back in.

7. Reinstall the loudspeaker assembly

1. There are contacts on the dock assembly that must make contact with the loud speaker for it to function. Take note of those below and make sure you position your speaker accordingly.

2. Once the speaker assembly is lined up, replace the three screws you removed earlier in order to secure it down.

3. Replace the gold connector you removed earlier.

8. Re-connect the battery

1. Re-connect the battery cable that you pried up earlier.

2. Replace the battery cable shield.

3. Replace the two screws holding the battery cable down using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

9. Re-connect the display assembly

1. Carefully reconnect the three cables running from the display assembly to the logic board.

2. Reposition the metal shield that sits over the three cables and replace the four screws that hold it in place, remembering where each one came from — they are all different sizes.

3. Line up the top of the screen carefully and make note of the teeth that line up to the top of your iPhone 5c's frame. Once the top of the display is lined up, carefully snap down the remainder by moving your fingers along the edge.

10. Replace the security screws on each side of the dock connector

Once you are confident that the display is seated correctly again, use your security screwdriver in order to replace the two screws on either side of the dock connector.

11. Test the new Lightning dock & headphone jack assembly

After you're iPhone 5c is fully assembled, turn it back on. Here are some things you should do in order to fully test the new Lightning dock & headphone jack assembly:

• Ensure your iPhone 5c charges as it should
• Play music through the headphones
• Test volume control and skip track functions through headphones
• Test the loudspeaker since we removed it by either taking a call on the speaker or by playing music
• Ensure your iPhone 5c does not get too warm when charging it, if it does, remove the replacement dock immediately and have it replaced

If all of the above checks out okay, you're good to go!

Questions?

Let us know below.

If your iPhone 5c won't charge, the problem could be one of two things; the battery or the Lightning dock itself. If you're experiencing other symptoms such as headphone jack issues, or dock accessories not working when plugged in, the Lightning dock is more than likely the culprit. Luckily, a DIY repair to replace the Lightning dock isn't too time or labor-intensive, and it'll cost you a fraction of what a new iPhone would!

What you need to replace an iPhone 5c dock assembly

You'll need some tools and parts in order to repair your iPhone 5c. iMore recommends using only quality and genuine parts from a reputable supplier like iFixYouri. They have quality parts, tools, and much more for all your repair needs.

• Replacement Lightning dock assembly
• Suction cup
• 5-point security screwdriver
• Standard #000 Phillips screwdriver
• Spudger tool
• Razor blade
• iSesamo Opening tool (not necessary but awesome for prying up cables and getting under adhesive)

1. Power off your iPhone 5c

Before performing any repair on any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch you should always remember to power it off. Simply hold down on the Power button until you see Slide to Power off. One you're sure your iPhone is turned off, proceed to the next section.

2. Remove the two security screws on both sides of the dock connector

There are two security screws that secure the screen to the frame and they sit on each side of the dock connector. Use your 5-point security screwdriver to remove them. They are both the same size so it's okay if you mix them up.

3. Remove the display assembly

1. Place your suction cup slightly above the Home button assembly and secure it to the screen.

2. Holding the iPhone in place with one hand, gently pull upwards on the suction cup until you free the bottom of the screen. You should now be able to use your fingers to slowly raise up the screen and expose where the front assembly is connected to the logic board.
3. Remove the four screws holding down the shield that covers the display cables. To do this, use your #000 screwdriver. These screws are different sizes so make sure you keep them organized in a way you can remember for re-assembly.

4. Once all four screws are removed, carefully remove the shield and set it aside.

5. Now use your spudger tool in order to remove the three cables shown in the image below.

6. The display assembly should now be free from the body of the phone. Go ahead and set the display assembly aside.

4. Disconnect the battery

We don't need to completely remove the battery for this repair but it's always a good idea to disconnect the battery before removing and replacing internal components in order to prevent a short from occurring.

1. Remove the two screws holding down the battery cable using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

2. Gently lift the battery shield out of your iPhone 5c and carefully set it aside.

3. Use your spudger tool to carefully pry up the battery cable.

4. That's it. We don't need to go any further. Just remember to keep track of the shield and what order the two screws came out.

5. Remove the loudspeaker assembly

1. Start by carefully peeling up the adhesive shown in the photos below using your pry tool or iSesamo opening tool taking care not to tear it. This cable works in conjunction with your home button. It does not come completely out. You only want it to be detached from the speaker enclosure.

2. Now remove the three screws shown in the photo below using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

3. Disconnect the small circular gold connector using your spudger tool. This is located under where you disconnected the battery. Pay attention to the adhesive that is holding it down. It's quite easy to break but take your time so you don't break the cable itself.

4. The speaker enclosure can now be lifted out of your iPhone 5c. Just take care not to snag the dock, logic board or any cables while removing it. The photo below shows the best way to grab hold of the speaker assembly.

6. Replace the Lightning dock assembly

1. Start by using your spudger tool to disconnect the single cable that connects the dock to the logic board. It is above where the battery connector is located.

2. Use your #000 Phillips screwdriver to remove the remaining 4 screws that hold the dock in place. They are outlined below.

3. The dock is now ready to be peeled out. The only thing holding it in now is adhesive. The easiest place to start is by peeling where the cable connects to the board. Once you get to the actual dock, use your spudger tool, or iSesamo opening tool which is what I prefer, in order to break the foam adhesive around the Lightning connector.

4. Use your pry tool or any opening tool in order to pop off the rubber gasket that sits next to the headphone jack. It doesn't come off completely. You just need to pop it away from the frame.

5. Use your pry tool or iSesamo opening tool in order to break the adhesive around the headphone jack, which is also part of the dock assembly. You may need to use a finger on your other hand to work it up and around the battery.

6. Now use your opening tool to remove the rest of the adhesive under the dock assembly, taking care not to tear anything. The dock should now come free from your iPhone 5c.

7. Check out your old dock compared to your new one and make sure they look exactly the same. Peel off any adhesive backing on the new dock. This is also a good time to remove any old adhesive from inside the frame of your iPhone.

8. Start by lining up the headphone jack and Lightning dock assembly with the screw holes. You can also lay the adhesive on the right side of the dock at this time and re-connect the cable to the logic board to ensure a good fit.

9. Once you're confident the dock is lined up, replace the four screws you removed earlier using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

10. Now is a good time to plug in a charging cable and a pair of headphones to ensure a good fit. If you can't push one or the other in all the way (or both), the dock is lined up incorrectly and needs to be repositioned. Better to figure this out now instead of when you have reassembled your entire iPhone.

11. If everything is lined up and looks good, you can move on to putting the loud speaker back in.

7. Put the loudspeaker assembly back inside the iPhone

1. There are contacts on the dock assembly that must make contact with the loud speaker for it to function. Take note of those below and make sure you position your speaker accordingly.

2. Once the speaker assembly is lined up, replace the three screws you removed earlier in order to secure it down.

3. Replace the gold connector you removed earlier.

8. Re-connect the battery

1. Re-connect the battery cable that you pried up earlier.

2. Replace the battery cable shield.

3. Replace the two screws holding the battery cable down using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

9. Re-connect the display assembly

1. Carefully reconnect the three cables running from the display assembly to the logic board.

2. Reposition the metal shield that sits over the three cables and replace the four screws that hold it in place, remembering where each one came from — they are all different sizes.

3. Line up the top of the screen carefully and make note of the teeth that line up to the top of your iPhone 5c's frame. Once the top of the display is lined up, carefully snap down the remainder by moving your fingers along the edge.

10. Replace the security screws on each side of the dock connector

Once you are confident that the display is seated correctly again, use your security screwdriver in order to replace the two screws on either side of the dock connector.

11. Test the new Lightning dock assembly

After your iPhone 5c is fully assembled, turn it back on. Here are some things you should do in order to fully test the new Lightning dock:

• Ensure your iPhone 5c charges as it should
• Play music through the headphones
• Test volume control and skip track functions through the headphones
• Test the loudspeaker since we removed it by either taking a call on your speaker or play music
• Ensure your iPhone 5c does not get too warm when charging it, if it does, remove the replacement dock immediately and have it replaced

If all of the above checks out okay, you're good to go!

Questions?

Let us know below.

If the loud speaker in your iPhone 5c is not working, producing distorted sound, or cutting in and out, it is more than likely blown. If you're out of warranty, a DIY iPhone repair for this particular problem is relatively simple. It'll take you less than 45 minutes once you have the parts in your hands and will cost a fraction of the price of a new iPhone. And if you need help, that's what we're here for. We'll show you where to get the parts and tools you need, and how to replace a blown loud speaker all on your own!

What you need to replace an iPhone 5c loud speaker

iMore recommends using only quality and genuine parts from a reputable supplier like iFixYouri. They have quality parts, tools, and much more for all your repair needs.

• Replacement loud speaker
• Suction cup
• 5-point security screwdriver
• Standard #000 Phillips screwdriver
• Spudger tool
• Razor blade
• iSesamo Opening tool (not necessary but awesome for prying up cables and getting under adhesive)

1. Power off your iPhone 5c

Before performing any repair on any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch you should always remember to power it off. Simply hold down on the Power button until you see Slide to Power off. One you're sure your iPhone is turned off, proceed to the next section.

2. Remove the two security screws on both sides of the dock connector

There are two security screws that secure the screen to the frame and they sit on each side of the dock connector. Use your 5-point security screwdriver to remove them. They are both the same size so it's okay if you mix them up.

3. Remove the display assembly

1. Place your suction cup slightly above the Home button assembly and secure it to the screen.

2. Holding the iPhone in place with one hand, gently pull upwards on the suction cup until you free the bottom of the screen. You should now be able to use your fingers to slowly raise up the screen and expose where the front assembly is connected to the logic board.
3. Remove the four screws holding down the shield that covers the display cables. To do this, use your #000 screwdriver. These screws are different sizes so make sure you keep them organized in a way you can remember for re-assembly.

4. Once all four screws are removed, carefully remove the shield and set it aside.

5. Now use your spudger tool in order to remove the three cables shown in the image below.

6. The display assembly should now be free from the body of the phone. Go ahead and set the display assembly aside.

4. Disconnect the battery

We don't need to completely remove the battery for this repair but it's always a good idea to disconnect the battery before removing and replacing internal components in order to prevent a short from occurring.

1. Remove the two screws holding down the battery cable using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

2. Gently lift the battery shield out of your iPhone 5c and carefully set it aside.

3. Use your spudger tool to carefully pry up the battery cable.

4. That's it. We don't need to go any further. Just remember to keep track of the shield and what order the two screws came out.

5. Replace the blown loudspeaker

1. Start by carefully peeling up the adhesive shown in the photos below using your pry tool or iSesamo opening tool taking care not to tear it. This cable works in conjunction with your home button. It does not come completely out. You only want it to be detached from the speaker enclosure.

2. Now remove the three screws shown in the photo below using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

3. Disconnect the small circular gold connector using your spudger tool. This is located under where you disconnected the battery. Pay attention to the adhesive that is holding it down. It's quite easy to break but take your time so you don't break the cable itself.

4. The speaker enclosure can now be lifted out of your iPhone 5c. Just take care not to snag the dock, logic board or any cables while removing it. The photo below shows the best way to grab hold of the speaker assembly.

5. Notice that there is an adhesive strip and screw hold on the speaker housing itself. If you order a replacement from the source I've linked above, the new one comes with this in tact. If you ordered elsewhere, you'll need to check and make sure this is in place. If it isn't, you'll need to peel it off the old enclosure and place it on the new one, or the speaker will not function properly.

6. There are contacts on the dock assembly that must make contact with the loud speaker for it to function. Take note of those below and make sure you position your new speaker accordingly.

7. Once the speaker assembly is lined up, replace the three screws you removed earlier in order to secure it down.

8. Replace the gold connector you removed earlier.

6. Re-connect the battery

1. Re-connect the battery cable that you pried up earlier.

2. Replace the battery cable shield.

3. Replace the two screws holding the battery cable down using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

7. Re-connect the display assembly

1. Carefully reconnect the three cables running from the display assembly to the logic board.

2. Reposition the metal shield that sits over the three cables and replace the four screws that hold it in place, remembering where each one came from — they are all different sizes.

3. Line up the top of the screen carefully and make note of the teeth that line up to the top of your iPhone 5c's frame. Once the top of the display is lined up, carefully snap down the remainder by moving your fingers along the edge.

8. Replace the security screws on each side of the dock connector

Once you are confident that the display is seated correctly again, use your security screwdriver in order to replace the two screws on either side of the dock connector.

9. Test your new loudspeaker

Once you've turned your iPhone 5c back on, it's time to test the speaker enclosure. Follow these steps to do so:

• Play some music and make sure it sounds the way it should
• Place a call and test toggling between the earpiece and speakerphone
• Have someone call you to ensure your iPhone 5c rings correctly
• Test system sounds in the Settings app
• Plug in some headphones and make sure sound transfers between the two correctly

If all of the above checked out okay, your loudspeaker is good to go again!

Questions?

Let us know in the comments.

iPhones have always been prone to Home button issues and the iPhone 5c isn't any exception. Since it's the most used button, it's not uncommon that it should wear over time. However, if you're out of warranty and not ready for a new iPhone, a replacement could cost a few hundred dollars. Luckily, a DIY Home button replacement on an iPhone 5c isn't very hard at all and only costs a couple bucks. So if your Home button isn't registering presses anymore or doesn't work as good as it should, follow along and we'll help you replace it!

The Home button itself isn't normally the problem. It's the Home button cable that wears over time and results in it becoming less responsive or failing altogether. So that's the part we'll be looking at replacing in this guide.

What you need to DIY repair a bad Home button in an iPhone 5c

You'll need some tools and parts in order to repair your iPhone 5c, including a new Home button cable. iMore recommends using only quality and genuine parts from a reputable supplier like iFixYouri. They have quality parts, tools, and much more for all your repair needs.

• Replacement iPhone 5c Home button cable
• Suction cup
• 5-point security screwdriver
• Standard #000 Phillips screwdriver
• Spudger tool
• Razor blade
• iSesamo Opening tool (not necessary but awesome for prying up cables and getting under adhesive)

Power off your iPhone

Before performing any repair on any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch you should always remember to power it off. Simply hold down on the Power button until you see Slide to Power off. One you're sure your iPhone is turned off, proceed to the next section.

Remove the two security screws on both sides of the dock connector

There are two security screws that secure the screen to the frame and they sit on each side of the dock connector. Use your 5-point security screwdriver to remove them. They are both the same size so it's okay if you mix them up.

Remove the display assembly

1. Place your suction cup slightly above the Home button assembly and secure it to the screen.

2. Holding the iPhone in place with one hand, gently pull upwards on the suction cup until you free the bottom of the screen. You should now be able to use your fingers to slowly raise up the screen and expose where the front assembly is connected to the logic board.
3. Remove the four screws holding down the shield that covers the display cables. To do this, use your #000 screwdriver. These screws are different sizes so make sure you keep them organized in a way you can remember for re-assembly.

4. Once all four screws are removed, carefully remove the shield and set it aside.

5. Now use your spudger tool in order to remove the three cables shown in the image below.

6. The display assembly should now be free from the body of the phone. Go ahead and set everything but the display assembly aside now.

Note: We used the suction cup method here but if you can't get a firm grip with a suction cup, carefully work your way around the bottom of the phone between the frame and display assembly with a razor blade until you can gently pry up using the flat end of your spudger tool instead. We recommend using plastic razor blades if you can find them since they're less abrasive and won't scratch the finish of the display or the casing.

Replace the Home button assembly

1. Remove the two screws shown below using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

2. Use your iSesamo opening tool or a flat end of a razor blade to peel off the cable attached to the shield.

3. Peel the cable off the shield and replace it with the new one making sure the alignment is correct.
4. Screw down the Home button shield and stick the new cable down to the front of the assembly like you found the old one.
5. Test the Home button by pressing it to ensure that it depresses correctly and feels okay.

5. Re-connect the display assembly

1. Carefully reconnect the three cables running from the display assembly to the logic board.

2. Reposition the metal shield that sits over the three cables and replace the four screws that hold it in place, remembering where each one came from — they are all different sizes.

3. Line up the top of the screen carefully and make note of the teeth that line up to the top of your iPhone 5c's frame. Once the top of the display is lined up, carefully snap down the remainder by moving your fingers along the edge.

6. Replace the security screws on each side of the dock connector

Once you are confident that the display is seated correctly again, use your security screwdriver in order to replace the two screws on either side of the dock connector.

7. Test the new Home button cable

In order to test the Home button cable, do the following:

• Single press while inside of apps to make sure you get returned to the Home screen
• Long press to make sure Siri launches
• Double and triple click to make sure these functions work as well
• Press and hold the Home and Power buttons to ensure your iPhone reboots as it should

If all the above functions check out okay, you're good to go!

If you're having issues with the rear iSight camera in your iPhone 5c, it's possible a replacement could fix the issue. A bad rear camera assembly could have many different symptoms. The most common is spots or purple haze showing up in photos. If the spot is always in the same place, the assembly is defective. If the shutter won't open or your Camera app freezes, that could also indicate a bad camera. Other symptoms include lines through photos, hazy or unfocused shots, and blacked out photos showing up in the Photos app. Luckily a camera replacement in the iPhone 5c isn't terribly difficult. We can walk you through how to get replacement parts and how to perform this relatively easy iPhone repair all on your own! The best part? It'll cost a fraction of what a new iPhone would cost!

What you need to replace an iPhone 5c iSight camera

You'll need some tools and parts in order to repair your iPhone 5c. iMore recommends using only quality and genuine parts from a reputable supplier like iFixYouri. They have quality parts, tools, and much more for all your repair needs.

• Replacement camera
• Suction cup
• 5-point security screwdriver
• Standard #000 Phillips screwdriver
• Spudger tool
• Razor blade
• iSesamo Opening tool (not necessary but awesome for prying up cables and getting under adhesive)

1. Power off your iPhone 5c

Before performing any repair on any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch you should always remember to power it off. Simply hold down on the Power button until you see Slide to Power off. One you're sure your iPhone is turned off, proceed to the next section.

2. Remove the two security screws on both sides of the dock connector

There are two security screws that secure the screen to the frame and they sit on each side of the dock connector. Use your 5-point security screwdriver to remove them. They are both the same size so it's okay if you mix them up.

3. Remove the display assembly

1. Place your suction cup slightly above the Home button assembly and secure it to the screen.

2. Holding the iPhone in place with one hand, gently pull upwards on the suction cup until you free the bottom of the screen. You should now be able to use your fingers to slowly raise up the screen and expose where the front assembly is connected to the logic board.
3. Remove the four screws holding down the shield that covers the display cables. To do this, use your #000 screwdriver. These screws are different sizes so make sure you keep them organized in a way you can remember for re-assembly.

4. Once all four screws are removed, carefully remove the shield and set it aside.

5. Now use your spudger tool in order to remove the three cables shown in the image below.

6. The display assembly should now be free from the body of the phone. Go ahead and set the display assembly aside.

4. Disconnect the battery

We don't need to completely remove the battery for this repair but it's always a good idea to disconnect the battery before removing and replacing internal components in order to prevent a short from occurring.

1. Remove the two screws holding down the battery cable using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

2. Gently lift the battery shield out of your iPhone 5c and carefully set it aside.

3. Use your spudger tool to carefully pry up the battery cable.

5. Replace the rear iSight camera

1. Use your #000 Phillips screwdriver to remove the two screws holding the camera assembly and shield in place.

2. Use the flat end of your spudger tool to pop up the single connector holding the camera assembly to the main board.

3. Lift the camera assembly and shield straight out of your iPhone 5c.

4. The silver metal shield should easily come off your iPhone 5c's old camera if pulled lightly.

5. Peel off any protective backing on the new camera assembly. Take care not to touch the lens and don't get dust in the camera recess of your iPhone 5c or you'll have to remove it and clean it later.
6. Place the new camera assembly into your iPhone 5c. Take care not to shove it and take note of the cable fold in the old camera assembly as you may have to create the fold yourself on the new assembly.
7. Replace the metal shield over the new camera assembly.

8. Replace the two screws you removed in step one using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

6. Re-connect the battery

1. Re-connect the battery cable that you pried up earlier.

2. Replace the battery cable shield.

3. Replace the two screws holding the battery cable down using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

7. Re-connect the display assembly

1. Carefully reconnect the three cables running from the display assembly to the logic board.

2. Reposition the metal shield that sits over the three cables and replace the four screws that hold it in place, remembering where each one came from — they are all different sizes.

3. Line up the top of the screen carefully and make note of the teeth that line up to the top of your iPhone 5c's frame. Once the top of the display is lined up, carefully snap down the remainder by moving your fingers along the edge.

8. Replace the security screws on each side of the dock connector

Once you are confident that the display is seated correctly again, use your security screwdriver in order to replace the two screws on either side of the dock connector.

9. Test the new iSight camera

It's now safe to turn your iPhone 5c back on. If all went well, you should see an Apple logo. Once your iPhone finishes booting up, perform the following steps to verify the new iSight camera is now working properly:

• Snap a photo of a white piece of paper or surface and check for discoloration and spots
• Snap a photo of a black piece of paper or surface and check for discoloration and spots again
• Toggle between the front facing and rear camera to make sure they behave and function normally
• Take a photo with the flash on to ensure the flash functions properly
• Test out other camera modes and try recording a short video and make sure audio comes through properly as well
• Test FaceTime video functionality with both the front and rear cameras
• Tap to focus on different areas to ensure focus is working properly

If all of the above checked out okay, you're good to go and can get back to snapping photos again!

If you're having issues with the rear iSight camera in your iPhone 5s, a DIY repair is always an option, and in this particular case, it's not a terribly hard one either. Symptoms of a defective rear camera include purple spots on the lens that shows up in photos, lines through photos, issues with the Camera app freezing and never opening, and even blacked out photos appearing in the Photos app. Regardless what symptom you're experiencing, we can walk you through how to replace the camera in your iPhone 5s in less than 60 minutes, and for far less money than what a new iPhone would cost.

What you need to DIY replace an iPhone 5s rear camera

You'll need some tools and parts in order to repair your iPhone 5s. iMore recommends using only quality and genuine parts from a reputable supplier like iFixYouri. They have quality parts, tools, and much more for all your repair needs.

• Replacement iPhone 5s rear camera
• Suction cup
• 5-point security screwdriver
• Standard #000 Phillips screwdriver
• Spudger tool
• Razor blade
• iSesamo Opening tool (not necessary but awesome for prying up cables and getting under adhesive)

1. Power off your iPhone 5s

Before performing any repair on any device, always remember to power it off. Simply hold down on the Power button until you see Slide to Power off. One you're sure your iPhone 5s is turned off, proceed to the next section.

2. Remove the two security screws on both sides of the dock connector

There are two security screws that secure the screen to the frame and they sit on each side of the dock connector. Use your 5-point security screwdriver to remove them. They are both the same size so it's okay if you mix them up.

3. Remove the display assembly

1. Place your suction cup slightly above the Home button assembly and secure it to the screen.

2. Holding the iPhone in place with one hand, gently pull upwards on the suction cup until you free the bottom of the screen but do NOT pull up all the way at this point as a cable running to the Touch ID sensor is still connected. You only want to separate the screen about an inch at this point.

3. Now that you have a clear view of the cables, use the pointed edge of your spudger tool in order to carefully remove the metal shield covering the Touch ID cable.

4. Make sure you don't lose the metal guard that covers the Touch ID connector.

5. Again, use the pointed edge of your spudger tool in order to disconnect Touch ID.

6. You can now safely swing the display up more in order to see where it is connected to the board.
7. Remove the four screws holding down the shield that covers the display cables. To do this, use your #000 screwdriver.

8. Once all four screws are removed, carefully remove the shield and set it aside.

9. Now use your spudger tool in order to remove the three cables shown in the image below. You'll need to remove the two off to the far right in order to reveal the third and final cable, which sits below them.

10. The display assembly should now be free from the body of the phone. Go ahead and set the display assembly aside.

Note: We used the suction cup method here but note that if you can't get a firm grip with a suction cup, you can use a razor blade or the iSesamo opening tool. Carefully work your way around the bottom of the phone between the frame and display assembly with a razor blade or the iSesamo Opening Tool until you can gently pry up using the flat end of your spudger tool. We recommend using plastic razor blades if you can find them since they won't cause damage to the finish of the iPhone's frame.

4. Disconnect the battery

1. Remove the two screws holding down the battery cable using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

2. Gently lift the battery shield out of your iPhone 5s and carefully set it aside.

3. Use your spudger tool to carefully pry up the battery cable.

This is as far as you need to go. It isn't necessary to completely remove the battery, but it's always a good idea to disconnect it before replacing any components to prevent any shorts from happening if the Power button accidentally gets pushed during the course of a repair.

5. Replace the rear iSight camera

1. Use a pair of tweezers to flip the rubber shield covering the rear camera to the right — do not try to remove it completely as it's connected. You'll only need to move it aside.

2. Use your spudger tool to disconnect the rear racing camera from the logic board as shown in the image below.

3. Use your tweezers to remove the defective iSight camera from your iPhone 5s.

4. Take notice of the small rubber spacer that sits above the camera assembly. If it became dislodged, be sure to reposition it correctly before installing the new camera.

5. Replace the rear iSight camera with the new one and re-connect it.

6. Reconnect the battery

1. Reconnect the battery cable to the logic board.

2. Replace the battery shield and the two screws you removed earlier.

7. Replace the display assembly

1. Reconnect the three cables shown in the image below, starting with the cable to the far left, which sits underneath the other two.

2. Replace the display shield using the four screws and your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

3. Re-connect the Touch ID cable to the logic board. The easiest tool to help you do this is the pointed end of the spudger tool.

4. Replace the Touch ID shield that sits over the cable.

5. Carefully line up the top of the display into the top of the frame.
6. Snap down the display until it clicks into place.

If the display doesn't want to go back down, do NOT force it. Instead, be sure that the top is lined up correctly and that you aren't snagging any cables. There should be no resistance when snapping it back into place. If there is, you aren't lining it up correctly.

8. Replace the dock connector screws

Use your 5-point security screwdriver to replace the two dock connector screws that sit on either side of the dock.

9. Test the new iSight Camera

After you've finished assembling your iPhone 5s, it's safe to turn it on. In order to test the new camera, I recommend you perform the following steps:

• Toggle between the front and rear facing cameras to make sure both are working and switching properly.
• Tap the screen is several different areas to ensure focus is working.
• Take different kinds of photos to ensure all modes function properly — for example, take some burst photos as well as some regular ones.
• Take a few videos in different modes.
• Take a photo of a piece of white paper and of a dark surface to verify there are no dead spots on the new camera.

If all of the above checked out okay, you're good to go!

In some cases, a defective vibrator assembly also causes weak vibration that gets fainter and fainter over time. If that sounds like something you're experiencing, it probably needs to be replaced. If you're for some reason not covered by warranty, or just prefer doing the repair yourself to save some cash, we can walk you through where to get replacement parts and how to perform this relatively easy iPhone repair all on your own!

Disclaimer: As with any repair, iMore cannot be held responsible for any damage you may do to your device. It's also worth considering that opening up your device to perform any repair or modification can and will void your Apple warranty. If you don't feel comfortable opening your device, don't. Use extreme care and caution when performing a repair on any device.

What you need to replace an iPhone 5c vibrator assembly

iMore recommends using only quality and genuine parts from a reputable supplier like iFixYouri. They have quality parts, tools, and much more for all your repair needs.

• Replacement vibrator assembly
• Suction cup
• 5-point security screwdriver
• Standard #000 Phillips screwdriver
• Spudger tool
• Razor blade
• iSesamo Opening tool (not necessary but awesome for prying up cables and getting under adhesive)

1. Power off your iPhone 5c

Before performing any repair on any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch you should always remember to power it off. Simply hold down on the Power button until you see Slide to Power off. One you're sure your iPhone is turned off, proceed to the next section.

2. Remove the two security screws on both sides of the dock connector

There are two security screws that secure the screen to the frame and they sit on each side of the dock connector. Use your 5-point security screwdriver to remove them. They are both the same size so it's okay if you mix them up.

3. Remove the display assembly

1. Place your suction cup slightly above the Home button assembly and secure it to the screen.

2. Holding the iPhone in place with one hand, gently pull upwards on the suction cup until you free the bottom of the screen. You should now be able to use your fingers to slowly raise up the screen and expose where the front assembly is connected to the logic board.
3. Remove the four screws holding down the shield that covers the display cables. To do this, use your #000 screwdriver. These screws are different sizes so make sure you keep them organized in a way you can remember for re-assembly.

4. Once all four screws are removed, carefully remove the shield and set it aside.

5. Now use your spudger tool in order to remove the three cables shown in the image below.

6. The display assembly should now be free from the body of the phone. Go ahead and set the display assembly aside.

4. Disconnect the battery

We don't need to completely remove the battery in order to replace the vibrator assembly but it's always a good idea to disconnect the battery before removing any other internal components in order to prevent a short for occurring.

1. Remove the two screws holding down the battery cable using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

2. Gently lift the battery shield out of your iPhone 5c and carefully set it aside.

3. Use your spudger tool to carefully pry up the battery cable.

5. Replace the vibrator assembly

1. Remove the two screws at the top and bottom of the vibrator assembly using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

2. Gently lift the old vibrator assembly out of your iPhone 5c.

3. There is a piece of black tape sitting on top of the vibrator assembly. You can now transfer it to the new vibrator assembly if it doesn't already have one in place.

4. Place the new vibrator assembly in your iPhone 5c and replace the two screws you removed in step 1.
5. Make sure the contacts on the back of the vibrator assembly line up with the contacts on the logic board. If they don't, the vibrator motor won't work.

6. Re-connect the battery

1. Re-connect the battery cable that you pryed up earlier.

2. Replace the battery cable shield.

3. Replace the two screws holding the battery cable down using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

7. Re-connect the display assembly

1. Carefully reconnect the three cables running from the display assembly to the logic board.

2. Reposition the metal shield that sits over the three cables and replace the four screws that hold it in place, remembering where each one came from — they are all different sizes.

3. Line up the top of the screen carefully and make note of the teeth that line up to the top of your iPhone 5c's frame. Once the top of the display is lined up, carefully snap down the remainder by moving your fingers along the edge.

8. Replace the security screws on each side of the dock connector

Once you are confident that the display is seated correctly again, use your security screwdriver in order to replace the two screws on either side of the dock connector.

9. Test the new vibrator assembly

It's now safe to turn your iPhone 5c back on. If all went well, you should see an Apple logo. Once your iPhone finishes booting up, perform the following steps to verify the vibrator assembly is now working:

• Toggle your vibration switch and make sure you feel a vibration that's strong
• Place a test call to your iPhone to make sure vibration works as it should
• Go into Settings and test different vibration patterns under the Sounds section to ensure that the vibrator is now accurately producing feedback

If all of the above checked out okay, you're good to go!

The invitation for Apple's 2013 iPhone event played off the dot motif from the whimsically animated video Tim Cook had shown off at WWDC, the one that expounded on Apple's core values and beliefs, and what they're willing to put their signature to. But unlike the stack black and white of the video, the invitations dots were in bright, bold color. So it was that on September 10, 2013, when Tim Cook took the stage, he announced that unlike almost every year previously, Apple wasn't going to lower the price of the previous year's black- and white-cased iPhone 5. That year the business had grown so large, Apple was going to replace with something new. With something fun. With something colorful. With the iPhone 5c.

For the colorful

iPhone 5c, codenamed N48 and model number iPhone5,3, marked the first time Apple didn't simple drop the previous year's flagship down to mid-tier pricing. Instead, they repackaged it as something new. It had the same 1136x640, 16:9 in-cell display, but it replaced the aluminum casing with polycarbonate. The change did cost Apple slightly when it came to size, adding millimeters around the edges and on the back, but it let them replace the harder-to-manufacture and easier to damage aluminum of the iPhone 5 with the more rugged, hard-coated polycarbonate of the iPhone 5c. Also, as Apple had previously done with the iPod lineup, including the iPod touch, having a dedicated device at a lower-price point let them use color as a differentiator. Set against the traditional black/slate and white/silver of the premium line, the iPhone 5c popped in plastic tinted bright green, blue, yellow, pink, and white.

Apple had used plastic casings before for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. For the iPhone 5c, however, they put it around a metal frame so it felt rock solid. They called it "unapologetically" plastic and it was. It felt great.

Internally the iPhone 5c used the same Apple A6 system-on-a-chip (SoC) as the previous year's iPhone 5. In fact, almost all the internals were the same. Same 1.3GHz ARMv7-based Swift central processor, same PowerVR SGX543MP3 graphics processor, same 1GB of RAM. Same 8mp iSight camera on the back with the same backside illumination (BSI), hybrid IR filter, 5-element lens, and Apple A6-powered image signal processor (ISP). Same Bluetooth 4.0 (low energy), same 802.11a/b/g/n dual-band Wi-Fi on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz.

A few things did change. While the 16GB and 32GB solid state storage options remained, there was no 64GB option, likely a concession to its mid-tier status. The battery in the iPhone 5c was increased, however, to 1510 mAh, bringing 3G talk time and LTE browse time up to 10 hours from the previous 8. The FaceTime HD camera on the front went to larger 1.9 micron pixels and gained backside illumination as well.

The LTE 4G radio was also improved, gaining support for 13 bands, albeit over 5 different models.

The price, however, reflected the new position and reduced storage options. $99 for 16GB, $199 for 32GB on contract.

Designed together

Apple had been toying with the idea of a new-old iPhone for years. It sometimes leaked as an iPhone mini or as a budget iPhone for emerging markets. It was never intended to be either of those things. The less expensive price point was a byproduct for the mid-tier positioning, not the other way around. For Apple to really bring attention to that spot on the product line, to make the iPhone even more mainstream, they needed a product worthy of that mainstream attention.

The iPhone 5c debuted alongside iOS 7. That Apple's first new mid-tier hardware and first major software redesign coincided allowed them to carefully plan so that each accented the other, so that they looked like they were designed together.

iOS 7 even made the older elements of the hardware more useful. It brought, for example, live camera filters, video zoom, and FaceTime audio calls. But the effect was greater than the sum of its features. There was always some overlap of shapes, of rounded rectangles and circles, but Apple made sure to coordinate the colors of the iPhone 5c casings with the palette of the iOS 7 icons, text, and tints. Thanks to new object-oriented design of iOS 7, which used a physics and particle engine to bring elements alive, and transparency and layering to give them depth, the hardware and software really did seem made for each other and part of a larger, more integrated whole.

Just say 'non'

Alongside the iPhone 5c Apple also introduced a line of cases. They came in the same shades of green, blue, yellow, pink, and white, and also in black. Unlike the hard finish of the iPhone 5c, the cases were soft-touch so you could not only change up the look, you could change up the feeling. Apple heavily promoted the options that gave you, with graphics and web tools that showcased the wide range of mix-and-match options.

Apple claimed they, like iOS 7, had been designed with the iPhone 5c in mind, including the grid of circular cutouts along the bottom that let the phone's color shine through, creating an almost half-tone effect. Unfortunately, it also let a phew of the characters printed on the back of the iPhone 5c shine through, namely "non", which didn't bother some but others found amusing or off-putting.

Blockbusters vs. serials

The iPhone 5c launched in the U.S, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the U.K. on September 20, 2013. It's hard to say how many were sold that first weekend because the iPhone 5s was sold along with it and Apple doesn't break down numbers per model. Apple did say they sold 9 million iPhones combined that weekend, and some analysts have estimated the iPhone 5c accounted for about 2.25 million of those.

Some reviewers and analysts found the numbers difficult to wrap their heads around. They looked for the traditional iPhone launch spike and, when they didn't see it, they slapped the "dud" label on it and moved on. Rumors of the iPhone 5c being a cheap or budget or emerging markets iPhone may have led to the wrong expectations, at least for those who hadn't followed Apple's business for length of time. Likewise, rumors of manufacturing cuts may have caused some confusion, as might have the product itself.

Traditionally new iPhones had been like blockbuster movies and did indeed spike to the stratosphere when they launched only to slowly wound down until the next year's blockbuster hit. The iPhone 5c was different. It was meant to be more like a TV series that airs week in, week out. It wasn't packaged like previous iPhones, in a box and meant to sit in back-of-house. It was packaged like an iPod in a clear plastic case that let its color shine through to entice anyone walking by. And entice them it did. The iPhone 5c was bought steadily, day by day, week by week, month by month, pushing it up top-sellers charts, and making it the kind of "dud" any manufacturer would love to have.

Reviews were generally good as well. Nilay Patel for The Verge:

Myriam Joire for Engadget:

And my mom, for iMore

The iPhone 5c wasn't the fastest or most powerful or most forward thinking new iPhone on the market. But for many people, for mainstream people, for first time smartphone or any phone buyers, for people who were slightly more price sensitive but who also had a certain vibe and vibrance to their tastes — for those people the iPhone 5c might have been the best.

Seven years later

It was the iPhone 5s that faced most of the competitive pressure in the market, not the iPhone 5c. That didn't stop the iPhone 5c from outselling flagship handsets from Samsung, HTC, Motorola, Nokia, and others from time to time and place to place. That is wasn't a cheap iPhone but a less-expensive, more pop-culture iPhone also prevented it from going head-to-head with the low-margin, price-is-the-most-important-feature handsets from other manufacturers.

What it did do, however, is bring a lot of attention to Apple's mid-tier iPhone. It wasn't just last year's model with a storage shave and a price-cut. It was new enough and fun enough to be a real alternative not only for people who weren't so interested in other brands, but who weren't as interested in Apple's flagship phone either.

The iPhone 5c did what Apple does best — it broadened their addressable market in a very few, very deliberate ways. And it showed Apple could do something else, something potentially even more important for the future. It showed Apple could produce tens of millions of two new phones in the same year. Now what could that possibly mean for 2014?

• History of the original iPhone
• History of iPhone 3G
• History of iPhone 3GS
• History of iPhone 4
• History of iPhone 4s
• History of iPhone 5
• History of iPhone 5c
• History of iPhone 5s

If you aren't under warranty for some reason or you didn't opt for AppleCare, a battery replacement is one of the easier DIY repairs where the iPhone 5c is concerned. Not only can we walk you through every step of the way, we can link you to quality parts and tools we've tested and used ourselves.

What you need to replace your iPhone 5c's battery

You'll need some tools and parts in order to repair your iPhone 5c. iMore recommends using only quality and genuine parts from a reputable supplier like iFixYouri. They have quality parts, tools, and much more for all your repair needs.

• Replacement battery
• Suction cup
• 5-point security screwdriver
• Standard #000 Phillips screwdriver
• Spudger tool
• Razor blade
• iSesamo Opening tool (not necessary but awesome for prying up cables and getting under adhesive)

1. Power off your iPhone 5c

Before performing any repair on any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch you should always remember to power it off. Simply hold down on the Power button until you see Slide to Power off. One you're sure your iPhone is turned off, proceed to the next section.

2. Remove the two security screws on both sides of the dock connector

There are two security screws that secure the screen to the frame and they sit on each side of the dock connector. Use your 5-point security screwdriver to remove them. They are both the same size so it's okay if you mix them up.

3. Remove the display assembly

1. Place your suction cup slightly above the Home button assembly and secure it to the screen.

2. Holding the iPhone in place with one hand, gently pull upwards on the suction cup until you free the bottom of the screen. You should now be able to use your fingers to slowly raise up the screen and expose where the front assembly is connected to the logic board.
3. Remove the four screws holding down the shield that covers the display cables. To do this, use your #000 screwdriver. These screws are different sizes so make sure you keep them organized in a way you can remember for re-assembly.

4. Once all four screws are removed, carefully remove the shield and set it aside.

5. Now use your spudger tool in order to remove the three cables shown in the image below.

6. The display assembly should now be free from the body of the phone. Go ahead and set the display assembly aside.

4. Replace the battery

1. Remove the two screws holding down the battery cable using your #000 Phillips screwdriver.

2. Gently lift the battery shield out of your iPhone 5c and carefully set it aside.

3. Use your spudger tool to carefully pry up the battery cable.

4. Along the bottom of the battery above the dock, there is an adhesive tab. Use the pointed end of your spudger tool to unfold it.

5. Pull on the tab at both sides just enough to where you can use scissors to put a cut in the center.

6. Starting on the left side of the iPhone 5c battery, carefully start pulling the adhesive. It should start coming loose from underneath the battery. You'll hear a creaking/cracking noise. This is normal and is just the adhesive pulling up from the casing.

7. Slowly and carefully pull sideways and along the left hand side of the battery. Take care not to tear any components. At the same time, don't pull too quickly or the adhesive tab will tear, making it hard to get the rest of it out.

8. Perform the same action along the right side of the iPhone 5c battery. Take tremendous care not to snag cables or the logic board. Pull away from the logic board.

9. Keep a finger or two over the battery as it may come with the adhesive when you're done removing it.
10. Once both sides of the adhesive strip are removed, simply lift the old battery out of your iPhone 5c.

11. Your new replacement battery should have adhesive pre-installed on the back of the battery. If it doesn't, use two strips of double-sided tape that are a little shorter than the length of the battery. This will work just fine.
12. Place the new battery in your iPhone 5c.
13. Replace the battery cable on the logic board.

14. Replace the battery shield and the two screws you removed earlier.

5. Re-connect the display assembly

1. Carefully reconnect the three cables running from the display assembly to the logic board.

2. Reposition the metal shield that sits over the three cables and replace the four screws that hold it in place, remembering where each one came from — they are all different sizes.

3. Line up the top of the screen carefully and make note of the teeth that line up to the top of your iPhone 5c's frame. Once the top of the display is lined up, carefully snap down the remainder by moving your fingers along the edge.

6. Replace the security screws on each side of the dock connector

Once you are confident that the display is seated correctly again, use your security screwdriver in order to replace the two screws on either side of the dock connector.

7. Test the new battery

It's now safe to turn your iPhone 5c back on. If all went well, you should see an Apple logo. Once your iPhone finishes booting up, make sure you check the following functions to test the new battery:

• Fully charge your iPhone 5c and make sure it doesn't get any warmer than usual, as that could be a sign of a defective battery
• Monitor usage over the first few days with the replacement battery to make sure your battery life has improved

If all of the above checked out okay, you're good to go!

If you aren't fully covered by Apple Care or that isn't an option in your country, performing an iPhone repair on your own is always an option. Luckily, an earpiece replacement isn't difficult and costs a tiny fraction of what a new iPhone would cost you.

What you need to fix a blown iPhone 5c earpiece

You'll need some tools and parts in order to repair your iPhone 5c. iMore recommends using only quality and genuine parts from a reputable supplier like iFixYouri. They have quality parts, tools, and much more for all your repair needs.

• Replacement earpiece
• Suction cup
• 5-point security screwdriver
• Standard #000 Phillips screwdriver
• Spudger tool
• Razor blade
• iSesamo Opening tool (not necessary but awesome for prying up cables and getting under adhesive)

1. Power off your iPhone

Before performing any repair on any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch you should always remember to power it off. Simply hold down on the Power button until you see Slide to Power off. One you're sure your iPhone is turned off, proceed to the next section.

2. Remove the two security screws on both sides of the dock connector

There are two security screws that secure the screen to the frame and they sit on each side of the dock connector. Use your 5-point security screwdriver to remove them. They are both the same size so it's okay if you mix them up.

3. Remove the display assembly

1. Place your suction cup slightly above the Home button assembly and secure it to the screen.

2. Holding the iPhone in place with one hand, gently pull upwards on the suction cup until you free the bottom of the screen. You should now be able to use your fingers to slowly raise up the screen and expose where the front assembly is connected to the logic board.
3. Remove the four screws holding down the shield that covers the display cables. To do this, use your #000 screwdriver. These screws are different sizes so make sure you keep them organized in a way you can remember for re-assembly.

4. Once all four screws are removed, carefully remove the shield and set it aside.

5. Now use your spudger tool in order to remove the three cables shown in the image below.

6. The display assembly should now be free from the body of the phone. Go ahead and set everything but the display assembly aside now.

4. Replace the earpiece assembly

1. Remove the two screws holding the earpiece speaker and bracket in place from the top of the assembly. For this, use your #000 screwdriver.

2. Carefully loosen the earpiece bracket and lift it upwards. Note that there are clips on each side that you may need to bend outwards slightly in order for the bracket and earpiece to come out. Don't pull hard as you may break or bend the bracket.

3. Replace the old earpiece with the new earpiece assembly and position the shield on top of it.
4. Replace the two screws that secure the earpiece assembly and bracket using your #000 screwdriver.

5. Re-connect the display assembly

1. Carefully reconnect the three cables running from the display assembly to the logic board.

2. Reposition the metal shield that sits over the three cables and replace the four screws that hold it in place, remembering where each one came from — they are all different sizes.

3. Line up the top of the screen carefully and make note of the teeth that line up to the top of your iPhone 5c's frame. Once the top of the display is lined up, carefully snap down the remainder by moving your fingers along the edge.

6. Replace the security screws on each side of the dock connector

Once you are confident that the display is seated correctly again, use your security screwdriver in order to replace the two screws on either side of the dock connector.

7. Test the new earpiece assembly

It's now safe to turn your iPhone 5c back on. If all went well, you should see an Apple logo. Once your iPhone finishes booting up, make sure you check the following functions to test the new earpiece speaker:

• Place a call and listen through the earpiece to make sure you can hear what's coming through on the receiving end
• Toggle to speakerphone and back again to make sure the call transfers correctly
• Place your finger over the top center of your iPhone 5c's screen to cover the ambient light sensor while in a call. Make sure the screen turns off as it should when your iPhone is against your face

If all of the above checked out okay, you're good to go!

The DropSuit Rugged Case by Body Glove for the iPhone 5c, available now in the iMore store, aims to provide moderate protection without adding a lot of bulk. It also features shock absorption and a design that lets you maintain a sturdy grip on your iPhone. But does it really protect? Let's find out!

After putting the DropSuit Rugged Case on my iPhone 5c, one of the first things I noticed was that it didn't come all the way up around the edges like I expected. Body Glove states that it still has enough of a lip to allow you to place the phone face down on a flat surface and not sustain and scratches. While I feel there's a tiny edge, I wouldn't be comfortable enough placing my iPhone face down on a table and sliding it around.

The actual design of the case however is sleek and provides moderate protection without adding hardly any bulk. The case is lightweight and allows you to keep a tight grip on your iPhone 5c due to the grooves in the edges. This is especially handy when talking on the phone.

I found the DropSuit Rugged case to be easy to slide in and out of pants pockets, even tight jeans. It's also easy to pull off and put back on — even though you probably won't have to do that very often since the port openings should be large enough to accommodate any charger or accessory you want to connect.

The good

• Minimal design that still manages to absorb shock from minor drops
• Doesn't accumulate pocket lint and is easy to slide in and out of tight pockets
• Comes on and off very easily
• Embedded anti-microbial agent prevents odors and bacteria

The bad

• The edge around the front of the screen is very shallow, I still wouldn't trust laying my phone face down on a table in fear of scratches

The bottom line

If you're looking for moderate drop protection and don't fancy a bulky case, the DropSuit Rugged Case by Body Glove is a decent choice at a super reasonable price. Just don't expect it to withstand water or drops onto hard surfaces from too high up.

• $18.95 - Buy Now

If you happen to try out the DropSuit Rugged Case by Body Glove, let me know in the comments what you think of it!

Apple doesn't break out sales numbers for individual iPhone models, but other companies keep an eye on things. And since the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s were introduced last fall, one thing's become clear: the iPhone 5c sales haven't burned up the charts. How can Apple avoid that going forward?

Rewind to opening day: September 20, 2013. Lines around the block at many of Apple's retail stores, like usual. But unlike most days, customers have two new products to choose between — the premium-priced iPhone 5s, packed with whiz-bang features like an industry-first 64-bit mobile Apple A7 processor, Apple M7 coprocessor and Touch ID sensor, or the more mundane iPhone 5c — available in a steel-reinforced colorful polycarbonate shell, but still mostly last year's model under the hood.

While Apple had plenty of stock of the iPhone 5c in all of its colors, the iPhone 5s sold out quickly. Inventory of the premium phone stayed constrained for weeks afterwards - especially the gold version, whose popularity apparently caught Apple not customarily off guard.

After the fact, even Apple CEO Tim Cook admitted it had been a rare misstep. Speaking to analysts on Apple's Q1 2014 earnings call for the period that began shortly after the iPhone launch, Cook said, "It was the first time we ever ran that play, and demand percentage turned out to be different than we thought." He said that the "mix was stronger to the 5s," and it took some time for Apple — and Apple's suppliers — adjust accordingly.

Now rumor has it Apple is hoping to breathe a bit more life into the iPhone 5c by offering it in a lower-priced 8 GB version, at least for some international markets. At this point in the iPhone life cycle, a new lower-priced iPhone 5c model (with half the storage of the next lowest-priced model) is likely to have a modest effect on sales, if any.

The iPhone 5c isn't a bad iPhone. In fact, it's pretty good. But it's little more than Apple's iPhone 5 in an easier to manufacture, less expensive-looking polycarbonate shell, available in some different colors — nothing you can't accomplish with one of thousands of cases available for the devices.

Apple put a lot more thought and engineering into their iPhone 5c design than a lot of other smartphone makers put into theirs, but first impressions mean a lot. And when the average customer sees the iPhone 5c, they don't think about that engineering or that design - they see a colored non-metal shell, and think cheap. When high-end customers look at it they may like the shell but what they notice more are the missing high-end features exclusive to the iPhone 5s.

The iPhone 5c is modestly less expensive than the 5s — starting at $99 subsidized, or $549 full-priced, compared to $199 for the more feature-rich iPhone 5s, $649 unsubsidized. If there's a lesson to be learned here, it's that you can't expect a cheap-looking iPhone that still commands a premium price to sell well.

We're all wondering what Apple has up its sleeve for the iPhone 6, which we presume will be out this fall. It's a given that it'll have all the features the iPhone 5s does and then some, and there's been a lot of speculation that Apple is going to produce a larger phone.

I'd love to see Apple produce two new phone models this fall, just like they did last year — but instead of another iPhone 5s and 5c situation, I'd like to see two phones with nearly identical specs, just in different sizes. Both phones should have a premium feature set; neither should have any dramatic compromises.

Just offer a smaller iPhone for those of us who still value something easy to wield with one hand and slip in a jeans front pocket, and a larger model for those of us looking for a bigger expanse of screen real estate — something to fit that gap that exists between the iPhone and the iPad mini.

The iPhone 4s was kept around last year as the free phone for people on subsidized plans; it wouldn't surprise me to see that 8 GB iPhone 5c that we're hearing about end up at that tier. That way an iPhone with a smaller screen will be out of the current product matrix.

In some ways this mirrors what Apple has already done with the iPad Air and the Retina iPad mini so the precedent is there. Hopefully, one way or the other, Apple will be better prepared to change direction if they don't get the mix right the first time.

Do you want a larger iPhone? Or are you happy with things the way they are? Do you think I'm wildly off base here? Sound off in the comments.

The iPhone 5c enjoyed one of my favorite Apple commercials of 2013 — Designed Together — but we haven't seen more of those pop-art inspired ads, at least not until now, and not until... Tumblr? The log is called isee5c and claims Every Color has a Story. The videos are called Porte des Lilas, Vivo a Carnival, Enjoy the Show, Showtime, and Skating Love. There's also an additional spot that simply says Coming Soon. They all feature a series of dots playfully falling into place and then zooming out to reveal an iPhone 5c in its dotted Apple Case. The animation is charming and reminiscent of the Designed by Apple - Intention spot from WWDC 2013. But did Apple make them?

Mark Gurman from 9to5Mac has done some sleuthing and concludes:

Apple has shown they're smart enough to go to where the customers are before, be it boutiques inside Best Buy or iBooks recommendations inside Flipboard. Apple testing Tumblr as a social marketing channel wouldn't be in the least bit surprising. That said, a talented fan showing off their love for the iPhone 5c and skill at animation can't be ruled out either. (Nor can those "non" letters staring out at us from between the iPhone 5c cases...)

Whatever the source, the iPhone 5c feels like it was always meant to be a TV series to the iPhone 5s' blockbuster movie. Something not to draw launch-day lineups and holiday sales blitzes, but to sit on the shelf month in, month out, and appeal to those walking in and walking by who just want a fun first smartphone.

We'll see if and how that strategy changes when Apple launches new phones, including the expected iPhone 6 later this year.

In the meantime check out the Tumblr and let me know what you think — are they a new style of Apple ad and, more important, how do they work for you?

Source: isee5c via 9to5Mac

As we mentioned last week, Boost Mobile, a prepaid wireless company, has begun to sell the iPhone 5c and 5s starting today. This marks the first time Boost, which is a subsidiary of Sprint, has been able to sell the iPhone. What's more, they're giving customers a hefty discount.

Boost Mobile doesn't subsidize iPhone sales like AT&T and Verizon, so you have to buy the iPhone outright, but if you order it online, Boost will cut $100 off the full retail price - that's $449 for a 16 GB iPhone 5c, or $549 for a 16 GB iPhone 5s.

Until November 24th, Boost Mobile retail stores are also running a $100 off promotion that can be stacked with the discount, if you choose to switch service and port your phone number from another provider.

Boost Mobile's monthly pre-paid plan for the iPhone starts at $55 a month for unlimited talk, text and data. The company rewards customers who pay their bills on time by dropping the rate $5 after six on-time payments, eventually charging as little as $40 per month.

$200 off a new iPhone, after all is said and done - is that enough to make you jump ship to a prepaid carrier on the Sprint network? Sound off in the comments.

If you've managed to break the screen on your iPhone 5c and didn't opt for any kind of insurance, you've always got the option of doing a DIY repair yourself. If you've ever done an iPhone 5 screen repair, you shouldn't have too many issues with the iPhone 5c. There are a few differences, however, so follow along and we'll walk you through from start to finish.

Tools and parts

There are lots of parts suppliers out there but not all of them are created equal, especially fly by night Amazon and eBay resellers. iMore recommends using only quality and genuine parts from a reputable supplier like iFixYouri. They have quality parts, tools, and much more for all your repair needs.

• iPhone 5c replacement screen, including small parts
• iPhone 5c tool kit
• Razor blade (not necessary, but recommended)

Note: Some folks have trouble getting the screen off with a suction cup if the screen is extremely spidered. This why we recommend picking up a razor blade as well in case you run into this problem. We can show you an alternate way of removing the display.

Power off your iPhone

Before performing any repair on any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch you should always remember to power it off. Simply hold down on the Power button until you see Slide to Power off. One you're sure your iPhone is turned off, proceed to the next section.

Remove the two security screws on both sides of the dock connector

There are two security screws that secure the screen to the frame and they sit on each side of the dock connector. Use your 5-point security screwdriver to remove them. They are both the same size so it's okay if you mix them up.

Remove the broken display assembly

1. Place your suction cup slightly above the Home button assembly and secure it to the screen.

2. Holding the iPhone in place with one hand, gently pull upwards on the suction cup until you free the bottom of the screen. You should now be able to use your fingers to slowly raise up the screen and expose where the front assembly is connected to the logic board.
3. Remove the four screws holding down the shield that covers the display cables. To do this, use your #000 screwdriver. These screws are different sizes so make sure you keep them organized in a way you can remember for re-assembly.

4. Once all four screws are removed, carefully remove the shield and set it aside.

5. Now use your spudger tool in order to remove the three cables shown in the image below.

6. The display assembly should now be free from the body of the phone. Go ahead and set everything but the display assembly aside now.

Note: We used the suction cup method here but note that if the screen is extremely spidered, you may not be able to get a firm grip with a suction cup. If that's the case, carefully work your way around the bottom of the phone between the frame and display assembly with a razor blade until you can gently pry up using the flat end of your spudger tool instead. We recommend using plastic razor blades if you can find them since they're less abrasive.

Transfer the Home button assembly

To transfer the Home button assembly, simply remove the two screws using your #000 Phillips screwdriver on either side of the shield. Be careful when removing the shield as the contacts to the right can tear easily. This is a good place to use the iSesamo tool or a flat plastic razor blade to ensure you're lifting it off instead of tearing through it.

Once the shield is off, simply remove the Home button and rubber gasket. Note their is adhesive around it so if the adhesive isn't in tact after removing it, you'll need to replace the adhesive with another thin double sided layer on the gasket or the frame where the Home button sits.

Transfer the earpiece, front-facing camera, and heat shield to the new display

1. Remove the two screws holding the earpiece speaker and bracket in place from the top of the assembly. For this, use your #000 screwdriver.

2. Carefully loosen the earpiece bracket and lift it upwards. Note that there are clips on each side that you may need to bend outwards slightly in order for the bracket and earpiece to come out. Don't pull hard as you may break or bend the bracket.

3. Set the earpiece and bracket aside.
4. The front facing camera assembly cable is folded under where the contact sits in the frame. Carefully unfold the portion shown in the photo and pull it out of the frame gently.

5. Underneath where the earpiece sat, gently use your spudger tool to simply loosen the right side of the cable from the front of the display. Don't pull too hard as you may tear it. Just loosen it at this point. Take special care not to scratch or damage any components on the underside of the cable as this is where your proximity sensor sits.

6. Now remove the four screws that run along the side of the heat shield. They are all the same size so you can group them together. Note that there is a fifth screw at the top of the heat shield you need to remove as well.

7. Gently remove the heat shield and front facing camera assembly together. Be careful to not tear any cables while removing any adhesive or dislodging components from the old display. For this, we recommend either an opening tool the flat edge of a spudger that doesn't present a risk of accidentally tearing a cable. There is tape attaching the shield to the cables as you can see in the photo below. It is much easier to simply transfer the whole section together than separate them.

8. Once the shield and camera assembly are both free from the old assembly, follow this section of steps in reverse to transfer everything to the new assembly.

Re-assemble your iPhone 5c

Now that you've gotten everything transferred over from the old broken display to the new one, simply follow the steps in the Remove the broken display section in reverse order to attach the new display.

Take note that there are small clips that run along the top of the display that you'll need to line up in order for it to snap down correctly. You can clearly see them in the photo above. Don't force the display if it isn't snapping into the brackets along the side. Make sure you're lining up the top correctly and try again. If the top doesn't want to sit correctly, make sure the earpiece bracket is sitting correctly as it the clips on the side aren't completely flush, it will cause issues with seating the screen properly. Make sure you check all these points before pushing down on the display.

Replace the security screws on each side of the dock connector

Now that the display is back in place, use your security screwdriver in order to replace the two screws on either side of the dock connector.

And.. done!

It's now safe to turn your iPhone 5c back on. If all went well, you should see an Apple logo. Once your iPhone finishes booting up, make sure you check the following functions since the components involved were transferred and moved around:

• Make sure the new display doesn't have any dead pixels or ghosting issues.
• Check touch sensitivity to make sure the new digitizer doesn't have any dead spots. I do this by pulling up a keyboard and typing every letter on it.
• Place a test call and make sure the proximity sensor and earpiece are working okay.
• Launch the Camera app and flip the camera around to test the front-facing camera.
• Make sure the Home button is seated right and working correctly by single-tapping, double-tapping, and triple-tapping. Also, try a long press hold and make sure Siri activates.

If all of the above checks out okay, you're good to go!

The iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c launched a month ago today, and that means we've had just over 4 weeks to put them through their paces and evolve our first impressions. So, was the iPhone 5s a forward looking upgrade, is the iPhone 5c a popular alternative? One month later, how well have Apple's new iPhones held up?

• iPhone 5s review
• iPhone 5c review

Peter Cohen

Now that I've had a month with the iPhone 5s, two things have stood out the most for me: Touch ID and the camera. Touch ID is an absolute game-changer, and it's so natural to use that I find myself regularly holding my thumb over the home buttons of iPads and older iPhones just expecting them to work. I found battery life on the iPhone 5s - the first phone I've used from the start with iOS 7 - to be somewhat lacking, at least initially. Turning off Background App Refresh certainly took the sting out.

The A7 processor, paired with OpenGL ES 3.0, is going to help developers make some spectacular looking games. Infinity Blade III is the first example - its texture mapping and visual effects practically rival game consoles. Image processing has been greatly enhanced too - paired with a better camera, the iPhone takes better low-light photos than ever before, and can capture great images in burst mode and video at 120 frames per second, capturing slow-motion action worthy of a much pricier video camera.

If there's a big downside to the iPhone 5s, it's that it doesn't seem quite as stable a platform as the 5 - I've had a lot more app crashes with the 5s than I had with the 5. I attribute this, at least in part, to growing pains associated with the new 64-bit chip architecture in the iPhone 5s, and possibly some lingering weirdness with iOS 7 itself. Either way, I expect Apple is doing whatever it takes to make iOS 7 and the 5s the most stable experience possible for iPhone users.

Georgia

I haven't upgraded to an iPhone 5s yet. I may at some point, but my iPhone 5 is still great. Just like with iOS 7, I haven't seen anything compelling enough to make me rush out upgrade now.

Ally Kazmucha

I picked up both an iPhone 5s and an iPhone 5c on launch day. I'll start by saying the iPhone 5c definitely surprised me when it comes to build quality. This is not a cheap phone. Sure aluminum is higher end and looks more classy, but for $99, people are going to be happy with this thing. It's just an incredibly bold and fun device. I can see myself using the iPhone 5c on a regular basis as a backup phone, or simply as an iPod for testing reasons.

The iPhone 5s is my daily driver and so far, I'm happy with it. I find myself thinking Touch ID isn't that big of a deal, until I pick up my iPad mini and find myself oddly irritated that I have to manually type in a passcode. The convenience factor is definitely there. App Store purchases are nice and easy, when it works that is. For some reason, I still get asked for a password when purchasing apps. Other staff members have this issue as well while others don't.

Either way, I'm happy with my iPhone 5s and feel there's enough there to justify my personal upgrade from an iPhone 5. For me, most of that comes from the camera improvements. I take a lot of photos and in low light, I felt the iPhone was very lacking, especially when it came to motion blur. I don't think it's yet perfect but I feel that for a camera phone, it's one of the best in the industry. And for now, I'm content with that. Fingers crossed for OIS next year!

Joe Keller

I'm one of those people who replaces their phone every two years with their contract, so I came to the iPhone 5s from a 4s. The biggest thing I've noticed about the 5s is how much I'm using it over my previous phone. With the 4s, I would often turn to my iPad to perform a lot of tasks, but now I find that I pick up the 5s instead of the iPad for catching up on Twitter or light news reading.

Touch ID is a real standout feature for me, both for security and iTunes payments. Previously, when I've used a passcode on iOS, it was a simple one. With Touch ID, I've set a more complicated password that I only need to enter in case of a restart. For iTunes, the convenience of Touch ID on the iPhone cannot be overstated. While I was being prompted to re-enter my iTunes password at least twice a day before using Touch ID to download new items, I have been seeing these prompts less and less in the past couple of weeks.

I've found the performance on the 5s to be really solid. I've seen only a few crashes, and apps that have been updated to take advantage of the A7 run really well. Infinity Blade III, demoed on stage during the iPhone 5s announcement, runs smoothly and looks good on the 5s. I don't take many pictures, but those that I have taken are noticeably better to the ones from my 4s.

Richard Devine

I've been using the iPhone 5s since launch day, after a long overnight stint outside the local Apple Store to secure one. And as I've said on a previous iMore Show, I think it's the best phone I've used all year (and I've played around with a good few!)

The 5s is the complete package. Same gorgeous design and amazing construction as the iPhone 5, with improvements that you really can notice. The camera is simply excellent, and was used almost exclusively to capture a recent vacation. Precious memories that not once have I wished I had a 'proper camera' to take. Oh, and try taking better panorama shots with a phone other than with the 5s. It's staggeringly good compared to most things out there.

And of course, Touch ID. I want it everywhere, and I want it yesterday. It works so very well, that despite my previously written about annoyances with it, has value in my daily use far beyond that which I ever could have imagined.

Derek Kessler

This phone is fast. Stupid fast. Modern smartphones are really a marvel of technology when you think about everything that's crammed into them. But in reality there's only one part of the 5s that's changed how I use my iPhone, and that's Touch ID. I've repgrogrammed it a few times as I've realized the multitude of ways that I unlock my iPhone, but this simple layer of security has made things far more convenient for me in keeping my data safe.

The camera is nice, in that it's better, but it's not revolutionary. The minimum focal distance does seem to be improved, and the Touch ID-toting home button still feels delightfully clicking and tactile compared to my older iPhones. But, as an S model, the iPhone 5s isn't a mind-blowing device. It's the iPhone 5, but faster, with a better camera, and a fingerprint scanner. And maybe in gold, if you happen to roll that way.

Rene Ritchie

I was hugely happy with the iPhone 5. Now I'm hugely happy with the iPhone 5s. It's virtually the same phone, only faster - noticeably faster - and with a better camera. I liked the camera after a week. I love it after a month. From the beautifully lit panoramas, to the bursts to simply the better every days, it's once again the best all-around mobile camera I've ever used.

Touch ID has been good too. It occasionally requires me to touch a second time, rejecting the first, but never more than that, and it almost always works immediately. It's so good I want it everywhere. On my iPad. On my Mac. On my house. On my shoes. Every. Where.

I've used the iPhone 5c less as time has gone on, but it's still fun. If the iPhone 5 were still on the market, I'd choose the iPhone 5c over it, no doubt about it. The only question would be which color.

Your iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c: One month later review?

Whether you got an iPhone 5s or an iPhone 5c, we'd love to know what your experience has been. How's your iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c now, one month later?

In the past week there have been countless stories run about the alleged production cuts of the iPhone 5c. I say "alleged" because that's all it is right now. Allegation. And at least one of the analysts (who I shall not name) making this allegation has a very spotty track record on all things Apple.

But let's assume it's true. It very well may be. Isn't it still also true that the iPhone 5s sells for about $100 more than the 5c? And wouldn't that make it a more profitable phone for Apple to sell? Of course it would. Rhetorical question.

Apple sold 9 million of its new iPhones in the first 3 days of launch in September. That's a pretty big number, and if more of those were the 5s isn't this actually a good thing?

Bottom line here: If the majority of your customers want to give you more money for a more expensive (and more profitable product), resulting in a production slowdown for your cheaper product, that's what I call a high class problem. What's more, if Apple staged the iPhone 5s as the blockbuster fall release, and the iPhone 5c as the long-tail play that follows behind it, then it's an even higher class problem.

To illustrate how well Apple is doing, look at Verizon, who just released Q3 results this morning. Out of 7.6 million smartphone sales for the quarter, the iPhone accounted for 51% of them, which is up from 43% last quarter. Year over year Verizon's iPhone sales are up 26%.

Apple may very well may have screwed up their pricing strategy. Perhaps there aren't enough people willing to shell out a ton of cash for what is realistically a one-year old model repackaged in polycarbonate. Maybe Apple should have been more aggressive in hitting a lower price and capturing more market share. Maybe they should have made a netbook too. But when you look at the Verizon numbers (and more carriers are bound to report results over the next few weeks), that's a tough argument to make, at least right now.

Analysts and financial writers like to write shocking headlines. They pick one number, one metric, ignore complexity, ignore the big picture, and make the facts match their narrative. But while Apple has a simple product line, they certainly don't have a simple production line. They have multiple suppliers, and a complex array of moving parts. Calamitous headlines are easy. Doing real analysis on Apple is hard.

All that aside, when you peel the onion even one layer deep isn't it obvious that, mathematically, given they still sold huge numbers on launch, that profitability is actually climbing?

Apple has only just released the iPhone 5c, and also only just released it in white, yellow, green, blue, and pink, but now that they've gone multi-chromatic, there's an entire spectrum of hues and shades they could add to the lineup. The iPods have been colorful for years, and some of those years has seen Apple add new colors, or tweak existing colors, so there's no reason they couldn't do so with the iPhone 5c as well. Next year, there could be entirely new shades.

Or perhaps earlier? Apple has seen their once-yearly product update cycle lead to months of slower sales, and counter-programming by the competition before. Could they release new colors at some mid-point to help keep up excitement throughout the year? I don't recall Apple adding new colors mid-cycle before,, but they did add a new 128gb model to the iPad 4 lineup earlier this year, so you can never say never.

If Apple did increase the iPhone 5c color palette, which colors would you like to see? (Product) Red? Orange for former CrackBerry addicts? Purple like Samuel L. Jackson's lightsaber? Cyan for Nokia transplants? Magenta for T-Mobile? Navy or real pink? If you could get an iPhone 5c in any other color, what would it be?

Vote in the poll up top and tell me all about your dream color in the comments below.

I've been hearing about a second iPhone for years. Something that would sit below the flagship line and make Apple even more competitive in the mainstream market. I thought it was going to be purely a less-expensive play. The iPhone equivalent of the iPod mini, Mac mini, or iPad mini - that something would be taken away to make it even more accessible. I was wrong. Sometimes it isn't what you take away but what you change or even add. Sometimes accessibility is trumped by appeal. The iPhone 5c, it turns out, wasn't a pure budget play at all. It's play was pure pop.

Yes, it costs less than what Apple typically charges for a new iPhone, but the iPhone 5c is in no way typical. Unlike the new iPhone 5s, on the inside it's the same platform as last year's iPhone 5 with support for slightly more LTE bands and a slightly better FaceTime camera. But on the outside it has new candy-colored shells that perfectly match the new palette presented in iOS 7. Not only does that make the iPhone 5c easier for Apple to manufacturer, it makes it even more interesting to an even wider range of potential customers. Like nano-chromatic iPods before it, it makes the iPhone 5c fun. But does it make it the phone for you?

iPhone evolution

More than any new iPhone in history, the iPhone 5c builds on what came before it. It shares so much in common with last year's iPhone 5, beyond the name, instead of repeating it all here, I'll direct you to that review, and to the reviews that preceded it. If you're curious about the iSight camera and the Lightning adapter, the 4-inch 16:9 in-cell Retina display, the NanoSIM and EarPods, you can find all that, and more, in the review below.

• iPhone 5 review (September 2012)
• iPhone 4S review (October 2011)
• iPhone 4 Review (June 2010)
• iPhone 3GS review (June 2009)
• iPhone 3G review (June 2008)

iPhone 5c packaging

Unlike any other iPhone in history, the iPhone 5c doesn't come in am opaque cardboard box. Instead, it comes in an a transparent plastic capsule identical to those used for iPods, right down to the sticker that emulates a fully lit Home screen. Arguably, this further highlight the iPhone 5c's place in the lineup, once again more popular than premium. Just as arguably it highlights the iPhone 5c's design. No other iPhone has ever popped the way the bright colors and brightly matched wallpaper of the iPhone 5c and iOS 7 have.

iPhone 5s can cause lineups and sellouts, get held by ticket and wait behind the counter for a sales rep to fetch it and bring it out on a silver - or gold - platter. iPhone 5c is meant to sit on the shelf for the long holiday burn. It's packed not to demand attention but to attract it. It's not the home run, it's the sleeper hit.

It also, of course, includes a Lightning cable, USB power adapter, Apple EarPods headset, and the usual informational booklets.

iPhone 5c design

From the front the iPhone 5c has the same rounded rectangular shape as last year's iPhone 5. It has the same speaker and camera layout up top and the same, iconic Home button below. In between it has the same 4-inch, 16:9 aspect ratio, 1136x640 pixel, 326ppi, LED-backlit Retina display with in-plane switching (IPS) and in-cell construction that makes graphics and text look less like they're under glass and more like they're part of it. All of that is the same. It's around back and up over the sides that's changed. A lot.

On the iPhone 5c, the casing has gone from aluminium silver/white and slate/black with chamfered bevels to hard coated polycarbonate in 5 bright, bold colors. Green as the Hulk. Blue as a Smurf. Yellow as Pikachu. Pink as a Power Puff. White as Space Ghost. I like them all, with the exception of the pink. It's a bit too salmon for my tastes. The white, while elegant, also feels a bit like it's playing straight-person to its flashier compatriots. The lack of a black is curious. It's usually the most popular color, so perhaps Apple decided to reserve it for the space gray iPhone 5s. All the iPhone 5c colors, including white, do have black faceplates, but you can see the edge of the color all away around them, like a band. It's a great effect.

The iPhone 5c follows the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS as the third plastic iPhone Apple's made, but it's also the first new one since 2009. And it feels great. The rounded edges are comfortable to hold, the plastic isn't as cold to the touch, and thanks to a metal antenna frame inside (and lack of a battery door), it's as study and solid as any polycarbonate phone I've ever held. The hard coating is slick but not slippery. Still, for those who want extra grip, matte and soft-touch would have been the way to go. (Apple left that for the iPhone cs cases, see below.)

Apple calls the plastic unapologetic. Even their logo looks impregnated into it, rather than screened on top of it the way the silvery iPhone 3GS' did. Time will tell how well the iPhone 5c holds up to scratches and scrapes, bumps and drops. Likewise whether or not Apple's been able to overcome the cracking around the edges that plagued their previous plastics.

Comparing the iPhone 5c to the 2012 iPhone 5 or 2013 iPhone 5s, it's ever-so-slightly bigger and heavier. 4.90 inches (124.4 mm) by 2.33 inches (59.2 mm) by 0.35 inch (8.97 mm) and weighing in at 4.65 ounces (132 grams). That's 0.03 inches (0.6mm), 0.02 inches (0.5mm), 0.05 inches (1.36 mm), and 0.7 ounces (20 grams) bigger and heavier to be precise. It's noticeable, but not noticeable - you can tell the difference, but only if you stop and think about it. By most modern standards, the iPhone 5c is still a remarkably light and thin phone.

Comparing the iPhone 5c to the 2012 iPod touch, which also went multi-chromatic, I prefer to the colors of the iPod touch. The red is much nicer than the pink, the aluminium nicer than the plastic, and the metallic finish nicer than the plastic.

Apple says they couldn't have gotten the exact colors and look they wanted without going to polycarbonate. I'm not sure that should have been a deal-breaker for them. If manufacturing costs were a reason, if premium vs. popular positioning was a factor, if RF transparency needed to be considered - the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s have glass cutouts top and bottom, the iPod touch a plastic ellipse on the back - then polycarbonate is absolutely a more understandable choice.

iPhone 5c LTE radios

Apple added Long Term Evolution (LTE) cellular networking in 2012 with the iPhone 5, and they did a pretty good job of it. With 3 models, including one compatible with CDMA in the U.S. they managed to support a fairly good range of bands in a fairly good number of countries. The LTE radio in the iPhone 5c ups that support to 13 bands, albeit over 5 different models. Here are the models and the bands they support:

• A1532 (GSM): UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13, 17, 19, 20, 25)
• A1532 (CDMA): CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13, 17, 19, 20, 25)
• A1456: CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26)
• A1507: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20)
• A1529: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); FDD-LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20); TD-LTE (Bands 38, 39, 40)

Unfortunately, the bands alone are not enough. Even if you have an unlocked iPhone 5c that supports the right bands, Apple won't enable a carrier for LTE unless they have a deal in place. Apple keeps an updated list of the countries and carriers with official LTE support.

• Supported LTE countries

Coverage and reliability will be the same as the iPhone 5 or any similar-generation LTE device. When it comes to speed, it should also be similar. Here are Ally Kazmucha's SpeedTest.net results on AT&T. From left to right, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, and iPhone 5.

Here are my results for Rogers. From left to right, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, and iPhone 5.

Anecdotally, there's not much difference, certainly nothing consistently appreciable. The biggest difference will be the new bands bringing LTE to new places, if and when Apple announces deals with the carriers in those places.

Other than that, LTE still doesn't support simultaneous voice and data, and Apple still doesn't elect to sacrifice battery life and architecture just to open a second radio channel for Verizon and Sprint in the U.S., CMDA-laggarts that they are. That means, just like with the iPhone 5, GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile in the U.S., and most carriers around the world, will drop data to the still fast HSPA+ when you're on a call, and Verizon and Sprint, which don't support HSPA+ and whose legacy EVDO Rev. A networks also don't support simultaneous voice and data, will simply drop data entirely. (Wi-Fi will still work fine.)

Speaking of Wi-Fi, the iPhone 5c has the same 802.11n support on both 2.4 and 5GHz as the iPhone 5, and the same top-of-the-line Bluetooth 4.0 Low-Energy (LE). That'll let you do things like setup an Apple TV with just a tap, and in the near-future, work with iBeacons and other compatible devices.

iPhone 5c FaceTime HD camera

The iPhone 5c has a bigger, better FaceTime HD camera on the front, which is meant to improve everything from your FaceTime video calls to self-portraits (selfies). That's thanks to a larger 1.9 micron pixels, and a back illuminated sensor (BSI).

In daylight, the iPhone 5c easily holds its own against the iPhone 5s. But then again, so do last year's, less well-equipped iPhone 5 and iPod touch 5. The iPhone 5c has better tonal range, however, as does the iPhone 5s, and that's certainly something. From left to right, top to bottom: iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5, iPod touch 5.

In low-light the difference should be more obvious, and it is. From left to right, top to bottom: iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5, iPod touch 5.

When it comes to video, good lighting once again shows how well even the older FaceTime HD cameras show up. Low-light, however, shows where the iPhone 5s ISP really shines, correcting color to a level beyond what the iPhone 5c can match.

So yes, the iPhone 5c FaceTime HD camera is slightly better than the iPhone 5 or any previous generation iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad before it, especially in low-light. It's not quite as good as the Apple A7-powered iPhone 5s in low-light, but that's to be expected.

iPhone 5c performance and battery life

The iPhone 5c has the same Apple A6 processor as last year's iPhone 5. That means it enjoys the same performance as last year's iPhone 5. Half as fast as the new Apple A7, 32-bit instead of 64-bit, ARMv7 instruction set instead of ARMv8, Swift CPU instead of Cyclone, PowerVR SGX543MP3 graphics processor instead of PowerVR Series 6 "Rogue", Open GL ES 2.0 instead of Open GL 3.0, with a less feature-filled image signal processor, no secure enclave for Touch ID (also no Touch ID), and no Apple M7 motion coprocessor, it's still plenty fast and good enough for most people, most of the time.

It can run iOS 7 and run it well, with very few instances of slow down, lag, or glitches of any kind. It can process compress videos for email fast enough, and run complex 3D games well enough. Unless you're a serious alpha geek, or do tons of video or audio crunching on your phone, or want to play the most extreme games in the most extreme way, the iPhone 5c will do you fine.

Here are the perfunctory benchmarks to prove it. In order, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, and iPhone 5 results on Geekbench (CPU), SunSpider (JavaScript), and GFXBench (GPU):

When it comes to battery life, in my tests the iPhone 5c on iOS 7 lasted every bit as long for me this week as the iPhone 5 did the week before. I alternated days with the iPhone 5s, which means I've only had 3 days or so of real-world experience, so I'll be using the iPhone 5c more and monitoring it more as the year continues.

I barely ever actually talk on the phone any more, but when I did there was no excessive drain. Nor was there any on standby. I use the internet a lot, for interstitial things like checking messages and continuous things like listening to podcasts and watching videos. In all cases, I never had to reach for the charger until the evening, which is when I had to reach for it with the iPhone 5 as well.

Apple is one of the very few companies that gives dependable battery life numbers, occasional bugs notwithstanding. Expect the iPhone 5c to do what they say it does.

• How to fix battery life issues with iOS 7, iPhone 5s, and iPhone 5c

iPhone 5c and iOS 7

The iPhone 5c ships with iOS 7, the latest version of Apple's mobile software and the most significant redesign since the platform first launched in 2007. Almost everything about iOS 7 functions in the same way on the iPhone 5c as it does on any other device, but Apple has added a few flourishes specifically for the iPhone 5c. And yes, they're fun too.

The colors of iOS 7 match the colors of the iPhone 5c. The palettes, by design, match perfectly. From icons to text, software and hardware are completely coordinated.

It might seem silly at first, but if you go to Settings > Wallpaper & Brightness > Choose Wallpaper you'll find both dynamic and still wallpapers to choose from. The dynamic wallpapers are all new. They use iOS 7's new physics and particle engine to fill your screen with colored circles in a variety of sizes that fade in and out. And because your iPhone 5c has motion detection, they'll move as you move, making everything feel more alive. What's more, like the still wallpapers, they're color matched to the iPhone 5c, so you have the same Hulk green, Pikachu yellow, Smurf blue, ower Puff pink, and Space Ghost white as find on the outside casing, along with Batman black just in case you want to match the one color Apple's new iPhone 5c cases come in that the device itself does not.

Thanks to iOS 7, however, it doesn't stop with the wallpaper, dynamic or static. Because so much of iOS 7 is layered on the z-axis, and translucent, it picks up the color of the wallpaper underneath, and even the motion. Swipe over to enter your passcode, and your wallpaper shines through. Pull down Notification Center or Control Center and your wallpaper tints it. Anywhere and everywhere there's a layer, the color comes through.

It doesn't sound like much, but when combined with the color of the iPhone 5c casing, it looks fantastic, and highlights the thought that went into everything about the experience. It's what makes the pop art pop.

There are a lot of other great new features, including a complete physics and particle engine-based redesign that's cleaner if not always clearer, improvements to Siri, a Today screen for Notification Center, the all new Control Center, better multitasking visualization and just-in time background access for all apps, improved Camera and Photos apps, a new Safari browser, AirDrop transfers, and iTunes Radio (U.S. only at the moment).

Particularly interesting for a phone designed to be as popular as the iPhone 5c is the new FaceTime audio feature. Just like iMessage let iPhone owners send messages without going through the carriers and the exorbitant SMS plans, FaceTime audio lets iPhone owners place voice calls the same way they've been placing video calls for the last few years. It works great, thanks to full integration with the iOS Phone app and Contacts system, and it sounds great, thanks to much wider band support than most carriers are equipped to handle.

There's a lot more to iOS 7, however, so make sure you read the full review.

• Complete iOS 7 review

iPhone 5c and apps

The iPhone 5c ships with over two-dozen built-in apps, including Messages, Calendar, Photos, Camera, Weather, Clock, Maps, Videos, Notes, Reminders, Stocks, Game Center, Newsstand, iTunes Store, App Store, Passbook, Compass, Settings, Contacts, Calculator, Voice Memos, and FaceTime. Apple also provides numerous free apps on the App Store, including iBooks, Podcasts, iTunes U, Find my iPhone, Apple Store, Find my Friends, Remote, Trailers, AirPort Utility, and the newly-made-free iLife and iWork suites of iMovie and iPhoto, and Keynote, Pages, and Numbers. Also, GarageBand for $4.99.

Google also provides free apps for most of the popular services, including Google Search (with Google Now), Google Maps, Google+, Gmail, Google Drive, YouTube, Google Voice, Hangouts, Chrome, and many, many more. Same with Microsoft with Bing, SkyDrive, PhotoSynth, Office Mobile for Office 365, Kinectimals, and more. Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, and pretty much everyone you can think of are on the App Store as well. Even BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is coming soon. As app support goes, that's pretty much unprecedented.

There are hundreds of thousands of iPhone apps available and the iPhone 5c is compatible with almost all of them. The only potential exceptions software, or features of software, written specifically for the iPhone 5s 64-bit processor, OpenGL 3.0 graphics chip, or M7 motion co-processor.

• Best apps for new iPhone 5c owners
• Best games for new iPhone 5c owners
• More best apps for iPhone 5c

iPhone 5c services and support

iCloud comes free with every Apple device. On the iPhone 5c it lets you wireless backup your data to Apple's servers, and wirelessly restore it if you ever need to re-install iOS or you switch devices. iCloud also lets you re-download anything you've bought on iTunes, the App Store, or the iBookstore, including music, movies, TV shows, apps, games, and iBooks. Photo Stream keeps recent photos both safe and ubiquitously available, as does Documents in the Cloud with files, and there's even an online version of the iWork suite coming soon to iCloud. There's a free version of the currently U.S.-only iTunes Radio service, as well as the paid iTunes Match music locker service. If you want additional iCloud storage, it's expensive but you can buy it.

Apple Stores, especially when combined with iCloud, whether extended by AppleCare+ or not, provide remarkable customer support for iPhone 5s owners. Apple specialists can help you test a phone to make sure it's what you want, help you set it up, teach you how to use it, and if anything goes wrong, help you fix it. It's a feature not always included on competitive checklists but anyone who's ever needed to avail themselves of it knows just how important a feature it is.

• Apple System Status
• Apple Retail locations

iPhone 5c and accessories

The iPhone 5c isn't compatible with most existing iPhone 5 cases due to its slightly larger size. Especially roomy pouches and bags might work, but those will be the exceptions, not the rules. Apple, however, offers their own set of cases specifically for the iPhone 5c. They're as bright and bold as the phone itself. If... a little croc-ishly, non-ishly awkward. In addition to Hulk green, Smurf blue, Pikachu yellow, Power Puff pink, and Space Ghost white, matched as perfectly as the icons and wallpapers of iOS 7, and as polycarbonate and silicone allow, there's also Batman black. 5 phones times 6 cases allows for 30 colorful combinations. Each case only costs $29, and Apple will happily entice you to get all of them via displays and the iPad smart signs in their stores.

What makes the cases so colorful is that they let the phones shine through. To achieve that they all have large rows and columns of Home button sizes holes in them. 5 by 7 of them, 35 in all, arrayed in a grid pattern. In concept, it's great. It lets a ton of the color beneath shine through. Unfortunately, there's no finesse to them; they let part of the printing shine through as well. Most infamously, "non" or "hon" from the "iPhone" branding. And it's inelegant to the point of being distracting. Leaving a solid band that hid the branding and markings would, perhaps, have lead to a better result.

The soft-touch silicone on the outside looks and feels great. It contrasts not only the hard-coated polycarbonate of the phone itself but coats the smooth, slickness of that surface with far more give and grip. They're an absolute pleasure to hold, and beyond that, a reassurance whenever you put your iPhone 5c down that it won't slide off a sofa or carseat.

After spending 4 days with the blue and yellow cases on my green iPhone 5s, I can't say I'm disappointed with them, but I'm not entirely thrilled with them either. And that's a shame, if only because of what could have been. Fantastic but flawed, inexpensive but not cheap, they're worth getting if you want the complete Apple package, but there'll likely be a ton of better options soon enough.

• $29.99 - Buy now

After snubbing the iPhone 5, Apple also decided to release a dock for the iPhone 5c. If you're familiar with Apple's old iPhone 4/iPhone 4s dock, then you're familiar with the iPhone 5s dock. If not, it's white, it's plastic, it charges via Lightning cable, and there's little else too it.

• $29.99 - Buy Now

Other accessories, be they tethered battery chargers, Bluetooth headsets and speakers, toys and remote controlled peripherals, Lightning cables and adapters, screen protectors and stylus pens, should all work fine with the iPhone 5c. Again, the only exceptions will be those dependent on exact case size, like plug-on photo lenses, docks specifically shaped for the iPhone 5, etc. And, of course, the Apple TV works just great.

• iMore store iPhone 5c accessories
• Amazon iPhone 5c cases

iPhone 5c pricing and availability

The iPhone 5c comes in two capacities, 16GB and 32GB. On contract, with full subsidy, those are typically $99 and $199 in the U.S. Off contract, full price, those are typically $549 and $649.

It's currently available in the U.S., Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the U.K. from Apple, carriers, and authorized resellers. Additional countries and carriers will launch in the coming weeks and Apple has announced they'll be blanketing the earth with the iPhone 5c, as usual, by year's end.

iPhone 5c buyers guide

All phones are becoming smart, and there are so many decent ones on the market now, it can be tough to figure out which one gives you the most value for your time and money. Should the iPhone 5c be your first phone? Should you switch to the iPhone 5c from Android, Windows Phone, or BlackBerry? Should you upgrade to the iPhone 5c from an iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 or iPhone 4s? Is there any reason why you'd even consider upgrading from an iPhone 5?

If you decide the iPhone 5c will be your next phone, there's still the matter of color, capacity, carrier, and more. No matter where you are on your decision path, the 2013 iMore iPhone buyers guide can help:

• Read the 2013 iPhone buyers guide

If you have specific questions:

• iPhone vs. Android vs. BlackBerry vs. Windows Phone: Which phone should you get?
• iPhone 5c: Should you upgrade?
• iPhone 5s vs. iPhone 5c vs. iPhone 4s: Which iPhone model should you get?
• Green vs. blue vs. yellow vs. pink vs. white: Which iPhone 5c color should get?
• 16GB vs. 32GB: Which iPhone 5c storage size should you get?
• Verizon vs AT&T vs Sprint vs T-Mobile: Which iPhone 5c carrier should you choose?
• Rogers vs. Bell vs. TELUS: Which Canadian iPhone 5c carrier should you get?
• Three vs O2 vs EE vs Vodafone: Which UK iPhone 5c carrier should you get?
• AppleCare+ vs. insurance vs. nothing: Which iPhone 5c protection plan should you get?

iPhone 5c bottom line

For the last few years, whenever Apple has introduced a new, flagship iPhone, they've kept the previous year's model around, dropped its price by $100, and made it their middle-ground. No longer, The 2013 iPhone 5c may sport mostly 2012 iPhone 5 guts, and it may sit in that same $100 off slot, but the first time, it's a first-class member of the product lineup. It's new, even if every part inside it isn't. That's a big change to how Apple handles the iPhone market, and if the iPhone 5c latches onto the mainstream market, if it becomes the popular iPhone I expect it to become, then it's also a very smart one.

I'll admit it, I like the iPhone 5c more than I thought I would. After using it non-stop last weekend, I missed it when I switched to the iPhone 5s. I missed its color. I missed its feel. The iPhone 5s screams premium, all gorgeously metallic and scorchingly fast. But the iPhone 5c really is fun. When I put it down, that's what I missed. And when I switched back to it on alternate days, that's what I enjoyed.

I'm a geek and my brain is all-in on the iPhone 5s. But a little piece of my heart is with the 5c. If a non-geek member of my family were asking for a recommendation, the iPhone 5c would more than likely be it. My mother, a history of art and architecture professor, iPad and flip-phone user, has already seen the commercials and expressed her interest. Colorful, she said. Fun, she said. Warhol, she said. I know just exactly what she means.

The iPhone 5c isn't the greatest iPhone on the market today. It isn't the most powerful, the fastest, or the most cutting edge. It lacks forward thinking technology like the souped up iSight camera, Apple A7 and M7 processors, and Touch ID fingerprint identification sensor. All of those things scream future. They scream cool. But for many people, for mainstream people, for first time smartphone or any phone buyers, for people who are slightly more price sensitive but who also have a certain vibe and vibrance to their tastes - for those people the iPhone 5c might not be the greatest iPhone on the market today, but it just might be the best.

Ally Kazmucha, Richard Devine, Peter Cohen, Georgia, Anthony, and Joe Keller contributed photography, videography, research, testing, and/or large amounts of time and effort to this review.

The iPhone 5c is designed to be mass-market, to be popular, to be colorful, fun, and friendly in the same way as the nano-chromatic iPods of generations past. Part of that pitch is the iPhone 5c case, something as bright and bold as the phone itself. If... a little croc-ishly, non-ishly awkward. 5 phones times 6 cases allows for 30 colorful combinations. So how do they look, how do they work, and which are the best combinations to get?

Color theory

The iPhone 5c comes in Hulk green, Smurf blue, Pikachu yellow, Power Puff pink, and Space Ghost white. The cases come in all of those, matched as perfectly as polycarbonate and silicone allow, plus one color the phone doesn't come in, Batman black. Each phone will run you $99 or $199 on contract, $549 or $649 off, but each case only costs $29. That's a far lower cost of color. Apple's pitch is mix and match; get a few different hues for all your different dos. The result isn't a blend, isn't a color-wheel spun in art class that makes purples and magentas, cyans and oranges. You get an extension of the same pop art theme that permeates the phones themselves. You get an extension of the same dots that have bounced their way through Apple's recent marketing. You get something visually big, a contrast of texture, a scale of patten.

On that score and that score alone, on colors and combos, the iPhone 5c cases work and work well. They completely change the look, and can change it often and easily. Unfortunately, there's more to it, and to them.

Whole lot of holes

What makes the cases so colorful is that they let the phones shine through. To achieve that they all have large rows and columns of Home button sizes holes in them. 5 by 7 of them, 35 in all, arrayed in a grid pattern. In concept, it's great. It lets a ton of the color beneath shine through. Unfortunately, there's no finesse to them; they let part of the printing shine through as well. Most infamously, "non" or "hon" from the "iPhone" branding. And it's inelegant to the point of being distracting. Leaving a solid band that hid the branding and markings would, perhaps, have lead to a better result.

Fun but flawed, it mars what could otherwise have been a pretty fantastic look.

Grip and go

Beyond the color, beyond the cuts, the iPhone 5c cases are well manufactured. The soft-touch silicone on the outside looks and feels great. It contrasts not only the hard-coated polycarbonate of the phone itself but coats the smooth, slickness of that surface with far more give and grip. They're an absolute pleasure to hold, and beyond that, a reassurance whenever you put your iPhone 5c down that it won't slide off a sofa or carseat.

The microfiber lining on the inside is likewise top notch. What's more, the edges of the case come up above the phone, so you can put it face down without the risk of scratching the screen. There's enough room around the camera and the flash to avoid any reflection or distortion. There's a decent amount of room around the Lightning connector and 3.5mm headset jack, but not a lot, which could be an issue for people with especially beefy plus.

The finish is typical Apple. Near perfect. The circles are identically sized, identically spaced, and there's no fringing or flash around the edges. There's even an Apple logo on the back. And why not, Apple's the only accessory maker in the world allowed to do that.

The bottom line

The iPhone 5c case is available in 5 colors perfectly matched to the phone itself, and black. They're in plentiful supply, they allow you to change the look of your phone like changing jackets before you go out to party, and they have an Apple logo on the back. Yet they have a bewildering design that lets a smattering of non-sensical text show through.

After spending 4 days with the blue and yellow cases on my green iPhone 5s, I can't say I'm disappointed with them, but I'm not entirely thrilled with them either. And that's a shame, if only because of what could have been. Fantastic but flawed, inexpensive but not cheap, they're worth getting if you want the complete Apple package, but there'll likely be a ton of additional options soon enough.

• $29.99 - Buy now

Apple didn't just release 2 new phones this past week, it also released a bunch of official accessories to go with them. Apple skipped a generation with the iPhone 5 with regards to offering up a dock, but with the release of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c they're back. What we've got here is the iPhone 5c dock, that doubles up and will also cater quite nicely for the iPhone 5/5s.

On the hardware front, we're looking at another delightfully minimal effort from Apple, very much following on from what came before it. White plastic exterior, line out port and Lightning in port on the rear, Lightning connector in the recess at the front. Underneath we're treated to an Apple branded rubber base to stop things sliding around, but otherwise that's about it. There's no Lightning cable in the box – as with previous docks – so you will need to use the one that came with your iPhone.

Unfortunately, I don't have an iPhone 5c to hand just yet, but as previously mentioned it houses the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s just fine. The extra thickness of the iPhone 5c means that things work this way round, but the 5c wouldn't fit the iPhone 5s dock. Unlocking using Touch ID is a little awkward, but if you want a dock that fits both phones then you could do a lot worse.

And that's it. There's nothing else to say about it, because it's exactly what it says on the box. A dock for your iPhone 5c – and your iPhone 5 or iPhone 5s. Minimalist, practical, and exactly what we want from an iPhone dock. And it doesn't cost the earth, either. A welcome return to the accessories game for Apple.

• $29.99 - Buy Now

There are a lot of decisions involved when it comes to buying or upgrading to a new phone, even a new iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c. Which model? High-end or less-expensive? Which color? There are a lot to choose from this year! Which capacity? Keep it small or go all out? And on which carrier? There's never been more to choose from! Then there's when to buy and where, and host of other small but important things to consider, including, what do you do with your old phone when your hot new one arrives?

Enter iMore's 2014 iPhone buyers guide. If you need help deciding what to buy, we've got your back. And if you've already decided, just bookmark, email, Facebook, or Tweet this so we can help your friends and family and you can get on with enjoying your new iPhone!

2014 iPhone buyers guide podcast

Rene, Peter, and Richard talk everything about Apple's new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, including iPhone vs. other phones, iPhone 5s vs. iPhone 5c, color, capacity, carriers, and more! If you'd rather watch or listen before you read, start here!

• Subscribe via iTunes: Audio | Video
• Subscribe via RSS: Audio | Video
• Download directly: Audio | Video

iPhone spec comparison

Since its introduction in 2007 the iPhone has improved steadily over the years, adding higher density, bigger displays, faster Wi-Fi and cellular networking, better cameras, and new features like Siri and Touch ID. The above chart shows the evolution of the iPhone from the original to the latest iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s, including pricing and capacity at launch. While what you paid for it when you got it might vary, you can check your current model and see how it compares to the ones available now.

• Read the complete history of the iPhone

iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c: Should you upgrade?

When a new iPhone is introduced - or this year when two new iPhones are introduced - one of the toughest decisions to make is whether or not to upgrade to the latest and the greatest. If money is no object, it won't matter. If you're due an upgrade on contract, it comes down to whether or not the new features in the iPhone 5c or iPhone 5s are compelling enough to be worth $100 or $200 or more to you. If you're not due an upgrade, or if you don't buy on contract, then that decision escalates to $550, $650, or more. So what are the pros and cons of upgrading to the iPhone 5c or iPhone 5s, and when does the cost get overwhelmed by the value? Let's take a look...

• iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c: Should you upgrade?

How to sell your old iPhone

Selling your old iPhone (or any old phone) can help offset some, if not all of the cost, of a new iPhone, especially if you're not yet eligible for an upgrade and have to pay a premium. Odds are you've already decided which capacity and color you'll be getting when the iPhone 5 drops so you have some idea of how much money you need to get out of your current iPhone to cover the purchase.

So if you don't fancy handing it down for free to a family member or using it as a backup phone, we can guide you in the right direction when it comes to selling your old iPhone and getting top dollar for it.

• How to sell your iPhone

iPhone vs. Android vs. BlackBerry vs. Windows Phone: Which phone should you get?

While everyone here at iMore certainly believes the iPhone is still the best phone for most people, most of the time, we're lucky that every major platform now has one or more great phones for us to choose from as well. The iPhone may have the best overall user experience, the highest quality apps and games, the widest range of services, the biggest selection of accessories, and the best customer support, but there are also things the iPhone doesn't offer that other phones do, like much larger screens, physical keyboards, high power cameras, greater hardware options, or simply no Apple about them. How do you know which one is for you? Keep reading!

• iPhone vs. Android vs. BlackBerry vs. Windows Phone: Which phone should you get?

If you're considering any other, specific phones:

• [Apple iPhone 5s vs. Samsung Galaxy S5: Which phone should you get? "Galaxy S5 or iPhone 5s — or iPhone 6! — which new phone should you choose?"](Galaxy S5 or iPhone 5s: Which phone should you get?)
• Apple iPhone 5s vs. Samsung Galaxy S4: Which phone should you get?
• Apple iPhone 5s vs. HTC One: Which phone should you get?

What's the difference between iPhones?

While 'iPhone' often sounds like one, iconic thing, Apple has fielded many different models, and an incredible array of variants over the years. This year there's the state-of-the-art iPhone 5s, the pop-art iPhone 5c, and the held-over iPhone 4s. Sure, 5 sounds higher than 4, but what's the real difference between all these models? Does more money really get you more features, does saving up-front cost you in the long run, and how much phone do you really need? If you're looking to get your first iPhone, or looking to get one for family or friends, figuring it all out can be confusing. Here's what you need to know!

• What's the difference between iPhones?

iPhone 5s vs. iPhone 5c vs. iPhone 4s: Which iPhone should you get?

Once you know you're getting an iPhone and now, you need to decide which iPhone you want to get. While some might consider the the latest, greatest iPhone 5s a no brainer when it comes to their next purchasing decision, others might think the funner, less expensive iPhone 5c, or even the hold-over iPhone 4s is a much better value. If you're on-contract, you'll be paying a couple thousand dollars over the next couple of years anyway, so a few hundred for up-front may not matter to you. However, if you don't have that couple extra hundred up front, especially if you're going off-contract, up-front cost really will matter. It's important to really run the math on this and see what suits you best. So, premium, popular, or passé, which one should you get?

• iPhone 5s vs. iPhone 5c vs. iPhone 4s: Which iPhone should you get?

Gold vs. silver vs. space gray: Which iPhone 5s color should you get?

Color is one of the most visually distinctive - and personal - things about a new iPhone, which makes it one of the most important choices you'll have to make. Originally there was only one color, aluminum and black, but Apple eventually went to black and white, and now they're offering three choices for their high-end iPhone 5s: silver and gold, silver and white, and space gray and black. (The space gray and black replaces last year's slate and black, likely because it's an easier color to anodize). If you're on the fence about which color you should get, here's what you should consider.

• Gold vs. silver vs. space gray: Which iPhone 5S color should you get?

Green vs. blue vs. yellow vs. pink vs. white: Which iPhone 5c color should get?

More than any iPhone in history, the iPhone 5c is all about color and personality. It comes in hard coated polycarbonate - think plastic, but way classier! - in fun, vibrant shades of green, blue, yellow, pink and white. Color is so personal, so distinctive, but more colors mean more to choose from, and can also mean a more difficult choice! If you're having trouble picking your particular spot on the iPhone 5c rainbow, we're here to help!

• Green vs. blue vs. yellow vs. pink vs. white: Which iPhone 5c color should get?

16GB, 32GB, or 64GB: Which iPhone 5s storage size should you get?

One of the biggest decisions you have to make - literally! - when it comes to buying your new iPhone is how much storage capacity you get. The way Apple's pricing works, you get double the storage for every extra $100 your spend, which isn't really as straightforward a deal as it seems. While the iPhone 5c only has 16GB and 32GB options, the iPhone 5s has a 64GB option as well. Get more capacity than you need and you'll waste some money. Get too little and you'll experience no end of frustration. So, it's really important to weigh all the options and figure out the best price/storage ratio. Here's how it works!

• 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB: Which iPhone 5 storage size should you get?

Speed vs. reliability vs. value: Which iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c carrier should you get?

AT&T vs. Verizon vs. Sprint vs. T-Mobile in the U.S. Rogers vs. Bell vs. TELUS in Canada. Three vs O2 vs EE vs Vodafone in the U.K. And many more around the world. Then there are various discount carriers, regionals, and MVNOs. It's a mess! How do you know which carrier will give you the fastest data speeds, or the most reliable connections, or simply the best value for your money? It all comes down to where you live, work, or go to school, and what options work best in your specific area. However, there's a lot of broad generalities that can apply. Here are some of the most important, broken down by country!

• Verizon vs AT&T vs Sprint vs T-Mobile: Which iPhone 5c/iPhone 5s carrier should you choose?
• Rogers vs. Bell vs. TELUS: Which Canadian iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c carrier should you get? "Which is the best carrier for iPhone, Rogers, Bell, or TELUS?"
• Three vs O2 vs EE vs Vodafone: Which UK iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c carrier should you get? "Which is the best carrier for iPhone, Three, O2, EE, or Vodafone?

AppleCare+ vs. insurance vs. nothing: Which iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c protection plan should you get?

One of the last things you have to decide on when buying a new iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c is whether or not to pony up for the optional AppleCare+ protection plan. It's an additional $99 but it gives you an extra year's warranty as well as a much lower deductible if you damage and need to replace your iPhone. If you're not buying from Apple directly, you might also have the option of getting retailer, carrier, or other third-party insurance. And, of course, you have the option of getting nothing at all. Before deciding which is the best choice for you, here are some factors to consider!

• AppleCare+ vs. insurance vs. nothing: Which iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c protection plan should you get?

Need more help?

If there's any detail you're still not 100% sure about, or any question you'd still love to get answered before you buy your brand new iPhone 5c or iPhone 5s, we have fantastic information pages that are always kept up-to-the-minute, and amazing community forums filled with experts for you to talk with. Bookmark them and check back often! And once you've decided, let us know in the comments - which iPhone did you get and why?

• iPhone 5s: Everything you need to know
• iPhone 5s: Help and discussion forum
• iPhone 5c: Everything you need to know
• iPhone 5c: Help and discussion forums

The iPhone 5c comes in five different color variants; blue, green, pink, yellow, and white. I picked up a blue model while Rene managed to snag the green one. He's already shown you a complete unboxing and photo gallery so it's only fair we give the blue iPhone 5c the same treatment. Here's a closer look from what's in the box to the actual device itself!

Everything you find in the box is the same as what is shown in the green iPhone 5c unboxing video. The biggest difference is that the default wallpapers on each iPhone 5c match the phone color respectively straight out of the box. Nothing huge but it's a nice touch and shows how Apple really does pay attention to every little detail.

Without further delay, enjoy the photos below and then let us know in the comments what iPhone 5c model you went for if you picked one up already!

Here it is, the brand new iPhone 5c in Hulk green with a Smurf-blue croc-case! Check out the video above for the complete, ritualistic unboxing and hardware tour, and then scroll down for close up macro photos of the iPhone 5c in and out of the case from all the macro angles, including the new FaceTime HD camera, and the fit and lip on the case!

There's been quite a bit of discussion about Apple's decision to use polycarbonate for the iPhone's case. Is the plastic on the iPhone 5c a sign that Apple's legendary focus on product quality is slipping? Absolutely not. Let me explain why.

We've been critical of some manufacturers' use of plastic cases in the past. And that's raised the ire of a few commenters here on our forums and on Twitter.

"Polycarbonate is just another word for plastic!" say some.

Polycarbonate is plastic, yes. But all plastic is not polycarbonate.

Polycarbonate has been used for years in the optical industry, to craft eyeglass lenses that are shatter-resistant and thinner than standard plastic lenses. Many of the sunglasses that are available use polycarbonate lenses; windshields on motorcycles, on planes and helicopters; some computer screens and e-ink devices - polycarbonate's use is myriad. It's a lightweight material that's easily molded into different shapes, It's a good electrical insulator and it's very heat resistant, too.

Apple's use of polycarbonate as a manufacturing material for the iPhone 5c is not unique in the world of smartphones. Nokia, for example, uses polycarbonate to make the cases used in its Lumia 925 and 1020 smartphones. HTC used polycarbonate on its One X; Samsung has used polycarbonate on some of its Galaxy models.

According to Apple folklore, Steve Jobs had the original iPhone's production retooled at the last minute because he discovered that when he carried a prototype iPhone in his pocket, the screen got easily scratched by his car keys. Corning worked overtime to produce Gorilla Glass to fit the phone instead.

And the big downside to polycarbonate is just that: while it's shatter-resistant, it scratches easily. That's why Apple has taken a step that some other smartphone makers haven't - they've lacquer coated the polycarbonate back of the iPhone 5c to make it more scratch resistant.

The iPhone 5c will scratch if you try hard enough, so it's still a good idea to put some kind of case on it that will protect it. Whether you go with Apple's cases or one of the many cases from third-party manufacturers now getting ready to flood the market is entirely up to you. But one way or the other, protect the phone.

The complaints we've had about the use of plastic-backed phones isn't in the use of plastic itself - it's in the build quality and the quality of the materials used. A cheap phone made of crappy components feels cheap and looks cheap.

So, to summarize: Yes, Apple went with a plastic back. But it's not just plastic. It's polycarbonate. Which keeps weight down, is shatter-resistant, heat-resistant and just an all-around better material. It's coated to keep from scratching. It's better.

There's nothing cheap about the build quality of the iPhone 5c. That's the difference.

Do you agree? Or do you think Apple's use of plastic was a mistake? Or do you think I'm splitting hairs with this polycarbonate stuff? Sound off in the comments.

If you're still sitting on the fence about the iPhone 5c, here are some links that might help you with your decision:

• Everything you need to know about the iPhone 5c
• iPhone 5c vs iPhone 5s vs iPhone 4s: which iPhone model should you get?
• Green vs. blue vs. yellow vs. pink vs. white: Which iPhone 5c color should get?
• Verizon vs AT&T vs Sprint vs T-Mobile: Which iPhone 5c/iPhone 5s carrier should you choose?

Yesterday Apple made the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c official. And Wall Street collectively shrugged at the news. Rather than simply attack Apple's strategy or dismiss investor reaction, let’s talk about Apple the company and the stock. Let’s have a discussion about what these guys are doing (or perhaps failing to do) when it comes to meeting the expectations of the market.

The news from the big event came off pretty much as expected with one noticeable difference. This one difference likely explains Apple’s stock dropping from about $505 yesterday to $470 as I write this.

That one thing is pricing. Specifically pricing of the 5c. Nearly everybody was expecting a less expensive iPhone. Instead we got a replacement for the iPhone 5. If Apple hadn’t launched the 5c, the iPhone 5 probably would have dropped by $100 as the one year old model always does. So the 5c simply fills that spot. No real change in pricing at all.

Wall Street isn’t happy. Investors and analysts think Apple is missing a huge opportunity to gain traction in China, India and other emerging markets where price is a major issue. In fact, the iPhone 5c will cost over $700 off contract in China. That’s a huge sum of money to the average consumer in that country.

To be honest, I share this concern. But I realize that Apple knows more about how to price and market its stuff than I do. Same goes for pretty much any professional analyst or money manager out there. Very few of them know anywhere near as much about sales and marketing as Apple.

So I’m willing to sit back and watch. Let’s see what happens. The current free phone (on contract) in North America and many other countries is the iPhone 4S, which has a different screen size than the 5c and 5s. By this time next year we’ll almost certainly be looking at a full portfolio of iPhones that have the same screen size. Maybe at that point they’ll take a bigger step towards emerging markets and lower prices.

In the mean time the 5c is clearly not aimed at super price conscious people. It’s aimed at people like my wife. She doesn’t currently have a data plan because she never felt it was worth paying for. But she loves her iPod Touch and has been an Apple user for a long time now. Last month she told me she’s decided to buy an iPhone and wanted my input on which model to buy. I suggested waiting for yesterday’s launch. We watched a replay of the keynote last night.

You know what? She couldn’t care less about the feature enhancements of the 5s. Fingerprint sensor, 64-bit processor, colour balanced flash ... she couldn’t care less. But she freaked out when she saw all of the cool colour combinations between iPhone 5c and the covers with the circular cutouts.

The cool colours and the neat covers sold her. People buy on emotion and justify with logic. The $100 lower price tag was that logic. I suspect there are a lot of people out there just like my wife. She’s fashion conscious and budget-minded without being a total miser. She’s not a tech geek and would never think to ask about specs. Guess what folks? That’s a huge chunk of the market. Colourful fashion, high function and a $100 savings wins them over.

Just because Apple didn’t launch a much lower cost iPhone this year doesn’t mean it will never happen. And I’m not making excuses for them. I thought it would be the right thing to do, and the right time to do it. I might be wrong. Maybe they take small steps towards cheap phones over time. Maybe they never do it.

This morning I was out for a run listening to an interview-style podcast. Funnily enough, the person being interviewed was the well known Silicon Valley entrpreneur and former Apple Chief Evangelist Guy Kawasaki. He talked about defining success and failure as an entrepreneur. He asked if Porsche is a failure because it only has a tiny sliver of the car market. Are they? Of course not. They’re massively successful within the market they go after.

Apple has also been successful despite having perhaps one tenth of Microsoft’s market share in PC land. Yet in Mobile they have significantly more market share than in the PC market. And just like in the PC market they aren’t going to be #1. Android is #1 and I think it’s reasonable to suggest they hang onto that position for the foreseeable future. Maybe Apple is willing to sit back and collect its profits from the 20 or 30% of the market that is willing to pay a premium for its brand, while Android vendors compete for the rest.

I can’t say there’s anything wrong with that strategy. And as a shareholder, I recognize that the tablet & smartphone market is bound to be much bigger than the PC market ever was. If Apple can keep delivering awesome products in a market that is much larger, and they can do so with 3 or 4 times the market share they earned in the PC market I think they’ll do just fine.

But I’d be lying if I didn’t say I still hope they go after emerging markets in a more meaningful way.

More than any iPhone in history, the iPhone 5c is all about color and personality. It comes in hard coated polycarbonate - think plastic, but way classier! - in fun, vibrant shades of green, blue, yellow, pink and white. Color is so personal, so distinctive, but more colors mean more to choose from, and can also mean a more difficult choice! If you're having trouble picking your particular spot on the iPhone 5c rainbow, we're here to help!

Many colors, one face

Regardless of the iPhone 5c color you get, the faceplates are all black. So if you're worried about how the screen will look set against the color of your iPhone 5c, it's almost a non-issue. All you'll see is the thin line of colored polycarbonate around the edge, and each of those looks to set off the black with pretty much the same intensity.

Dirt and discoloration

Rumor has it Apple delayed the launch of the white iPhone 4 in order to improve the UV protection and prevent discoloration. Regardless, they took a long time to figure it out and get it right, and the white iPhone 4 has been on the market for over two and half years now and there haven't been any widespread accounts of discoloration. My own white iPhone 4 looks as white now as it did the day I bought it back in 2011. Likewise, there were white, plastic iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS models on the shelves going back to 2008, and no major discoloration issues reported with those either.

While we'll have to wait a year or three to know for sure, if your favorite iPhone 5c color is no color at all, don't worry about it, you can most likely get white and never think twice about it.

Damage assessments

Both light and dark show wear and tear differently. Pale dust and dirt shows up far more on dark, deep colors, and vice versa. Scratches tend to be more visible when the light hits them on dark backgrounds, but since there's no dark colors, and the polycarbonate seems to be colored consistently inside and out, there's probably very little difference.

Until the iPhone 5c as been on the market for a year or more, it's impossible to know which colors will wear better than others, if any at all, but from the looks of it, scratching the surface won't do much more than reveal additional surface.

Cases in combination

For many people the color of the phone they get is of only passing concern, because they'll lock it up in a case the moment it leaves the box. However, depending on the case areas of the iPhone 5c will still show through. In fact, Apple's marketing their own set of highly cut-out cases with just that in mind.

Just because you're wearing a jacket doesn't mean the clothes you have on beneath won't still peak through. Choose a color you love, then add a case you love to it to complete the look. (They're accessories because they accessorize!). If you already have a case you love, pick the iPhone 5c color that best compliments it. Either way, make sure you love the phone you get regardless of the accessories you may or may not add - or keep - to it later.

Who should get the green iPhone 5c?

Kermit was wrong, it is easy being green. It's natural like a grassy lawn or leafy tree, it's exotic like martians and hulks, it's the color most often associated with jealousy, money, and world around us. Apple kept their green light and vibrant and spring-like. They also kept it neutral enough that it can suit many types of people, with many styles, in many walks of life. It looks great, but it doesn't get up in your face about it.

If you want your iPhone 5c to be bright but not overbearing, colorful but natural, green looks wonderful.

Who should get the blue iPhone 5c?

Blue is the color of the sky and of the sea. It's the canvas that so much of the world around us is set against. Yet very little in the natural world is set in blue. That's why sapphires and jays stand out as much as they blend in. While stereotypically associated with boys' blankets and Superman's suits, the color itself knows no such limits. Apple chose a shade that's intense but not overblown. Something for everyone.

If you want your iPhone 5c to look great but not distract, to be deep but not disturbing, blue is where you're going.

Who should get the yellow iPhone 5c?

Banana. Big Bird. NYC taxi cab. We've heard them all. No, the yellow iPhone 5c isn't waterproof but it is sporty. It's the color assigned to the sun, and to gold-like prosperity. It's a caution light instead of a stop light, something that glows but manages to stay at least a little bit subtle about it. Apple's yellow is unapologetic, however. This is no pale pastel. It's yellow and it wants you to know it. It's the yellow, not red Ferrari.

If you want your iPhone 5c to draw just enough, but not too much attention, get yellow and show it.

Who should get the pink iPhone 5c?

In the east, red means luck and good fortune. In the west, it means danger or stop. In both, it's bright, bold, and attention getting. It's the color of gift envelopes and roses and racing cars. That's probably why Apple went with pink for the iPhone 5c instead. That we have such a popular and distinct word for light red in English, as opposed to light blue, yellow, or green is indicative of its place in the culture. It's typically - and often wrongly - associated with girls, but as any old school wrestling fan can tell you, the "pink and black attack" knows no gender boundaries.

If you want your iPhone 5c to be instantly identifiable from across a room - maybe even across the street - pink brings the heat.

Who should get the white iPhone 5c?

White is the presence of all colors in light, and the absence of all colors in print. It's the color of weddings and new life in the west, and of funerals and death in the east. For something so extreme, white enjoys tremendous duality. Likewise, so people hate the very idea of a white iPhone, and others want nothing but. With the iPhone 5c it plays the job of the straight man or woman.

Because there's no black or gray, the only iPhone 5c color to get for people who want no color at all, is white.

Still undecided?

If you're still not sure about green, yellow, pink, blue, or white jump into our iPhone discussion forums and the best community in mobile will happily help you out.

At the end of the day, the only real answer is get the color you like better. Everything else is manufactured anxiety at this point. Just close your eyes, picture your iPhone in your hand, and carefully look at what color you're picturing. Then buy that. And if you change your mind later, you can get a case. Once you've decided, though, et me know - which color did you go with and why?

Going into yesterday's Apple event in Cupertino, many in the industry were expecting Apple to price the iPhone 5c considerably less than the $549 they've announced. We were wrong - all of us. That isn't Apple's fault - it's ours. Predictably, I've already seen a few opinion pieces saying that the iPhone 5c is too expensive. To which I ask, "So what?"

I should say at the outset that I'm among those who predicted a lower cost than $549. I fully expected the iPhone 5c would cost considerably less money. I've been reading a lot about Apple's challenges in China and the growing demand for smartphones worldwide, and a cheaper iPhone made sense to me.

iPhone 5s and 5c: A new approach

Typically when Apple releases a new iPhone they'll kick last year's model down to second place. Apple's doing something different this year by offering two new models instead of one.

The premiere spot is occupied by the iPhone 5s. Despite its similarity in case design to the iPhone 5 (iPhone 5s's fit in iPhone 5 cases, for example), it's entirely different under the hood - much faster, with better camera optics, Touch ID fingerprint scanner built in to the Home button and more.

In the past, we'd have expected the iPhone 5 to be knocked down a rung, available for purchase still for $99 on contract. But Apple shook it up this year by discontinuing the iPhone 5 all together, and replacing it on that second run with a less expensive iPhone 5c. The iPhone 4s, with its smaller screen and lack of LTE service, among other things, remains in the mix as Apple's zero-cost (on contract) phone.

The iPhone 5c is pretty much the same under the hood as the iPhone 5, and I'm assuming it costs less for Apple to make than the iPhone 5 - the aluminum unibody design is gone, replaced with a polycarbonate back shell and steel frame inside. That should help improve Apple's profit margin on the phone, so I'm a bit surprised that Wall Street investors haven't responded more positively to the announcement.

iPhone 5c: Doomed to fail?

If you think the iPhone 5c is going to fail straight out of the gate, think again. There are a lot of people who want to upgrade their older iPhone - plenty of iPhone 4 users are still out there, plenty of iPhone 3GS users too. And there are quite a few Android phone users who are fed up with their devices and want to give the iPhone a try instead.

To them, the iPhone 5c is a new phone. It comes in colors, and plenty of consumers love to have the option of different colors for their devices. It's simple customization and adds a personal touch.

The 800 pound gorilla

Apple is engaged in fierce competition in foreign markets, especially China, going toe to toe with Samsung and local smartphone manufacturers. The presumption that Apple was ready to roll out a cheaper phone was based at least partly on the belief that China Mobile - the biggest mobile phone company in China - has been negotiating with Apple over subsidization and other costs associated with the iPhone.

To date, Apple hasn't struck a deal with China Mobile. From that perspective, it made sense that Apple might be trying to craft something more palatable for China Mobile. It has more than 60 percent marketshare in a population of almost 1.2 billion mobile phone accounts. To put that in perspective, China Mobile's customer base alone is more than twice the size of the entire U.S. market.

There's been an interesting twist: Unwiredview.com reports that the iPhone 5s, specifically, has received approval from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) as a TD-LTE-capable device. TD-LTE is the high-speed mobile networking band that China Mobile uses (it's also used by Airtel in parts of India and Dialog in Sri Lanka).

What's holding up the show now, according to the Unwiredview report, is that China Mobile is waiting on a license from the MIIT to operate on the TD-LTE spectrum, which they should get in November.

That may provide some insight that the iPhone 5s, at the very least, is headed for China Mobile. But it says nothing about the iPhone 5c. It's possible that the iPhone 5c just hasn't made it through the MIIT's approval process yet.

The c doesn't stand for crap, either

Apple doesn't seem interested in competing with other phone manufacturers on price any more than they do in the computer market, where they've been criticized for years at having laptops and desktop machines that are way more expensive than the competition. That hasn't stopped the Macintosh from being amazingly successful. Even though there's been a recent dropoff in Mac sales, Apple continues to sell more Macs every quarter than they did in entire years just a few years ago.

For Apple, there's little sense in growing marketshare at the expense of profitability. That is, perversely, a message that's not well received by many Wall Street analysts, and they seem intent on punishing Apple for its hubris at wanting to, you know, actually make money.

But the rest of us should rest assured that Apple's not interested in cheating us by offering us crap. The iPhone 5c, by any measure, is going to be a great phone available at a modestly more affordable price than the top-of-the-line phone.

Ultimately, getting an iPhone needs to be a good deal both for you and for Apple. Apple's set the price of the 5c and it falls on us to decide if it's worth it. You may decide that the iPhone 5c isn't worth it, but by reading this article, you're part of a pretty select group of technical sophisticates that follows this stuff online. The vast majority of customers who Apple already caters to - and who Apple wants to cater to - isn't part of that group. They're "regular" people for whom a smartphone is a smartphone. And to them, the iPhone 5c is new. That's why I bet Apple will sell them by the boatload.

OK, I'm done pontificating about the iPhone 5c. What do you think? Is this the phone you want, you were you expecting something different? Is the $100 difference not a big enough factor to make you consider it compared to the 5s? Sound off in the comments!

Update: An earlier version of this editorial incorrectly stated that the iPhone 5c has more limited LTE compatibility compared to the 5s.

One of the biggest decisions you have to make - literally! - when it comes to buying your new iPhone is how much storage capacity you get. The way Apple's pricing works, you get double the storage for every extra $100 your spend, which isn't really as straightforward a deal as it seems. While the iPhone 5c only has 16GB and 32GB options, the iPhone 5s has a 64GB option as well. Get more capacity than you need and you'll waste some money. Get too little and you'll experience no end of frustration. So, it's really important to weigh all the options and figure out the best price/storage ratio. Here's how it works!

Price per gigabyte breakdowns

The iPhone is sold at different price points based on the amount of storage capacity it contains. While it may seem like the price per gigabyte gets cheaper once you start going up, that's not always the case. Here are the U.S. prices:

• 16GB: $99 or $6.19 a GB
• 32GB: $199 or $6.21 a GB

• 16GB: $549 or $34.31 a GB
• 32GB: $649 or $20.28 a GB

• 16GB: $199 or $12.44 a GB
• 32GB: $299 or $9.34 a GB
• 64GB: $399 or $6.23 a GB

• 16GB: $649 or $40.56 a GB
• 32GB: $749 or $23.41 a GB
• 64GB: $849 or $13.27 a GB

On-contract and at first glance it may look like the 64GB iPhone 5s is four times the storage for only twice the price. In other words, a really sweet deal. However, 16GB for $199 (or $649 unlocked) is Apple's lowest margin device. After that, Apple is getting you to pay a pretty premium for every additional doubling of storage. Think of it this way, going from 16GB to 32GB costs you $100. Go look at the cost of a 16GB SD card and you'll see how much more you're paying for that bump. Now the $200 premium for an additional 48GB of iPhone 5s storage is more interesting, but it's still not $200 more interesting. Hey, that's why Apple has over $100 billion in the bank.

If your goal is to pay Apple absolutely the least amount of money as possible, the 16GB iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s might tempt you. But hold on, there's a lot more to consider than just the cost of storage!

Local vs. Cloud storage

Apple's iCloud gives you free, unlimited storage for all your iTunes stuff. That includes iBooks, music, movies, TV shows, and apps, as well as 30 days or 1000 Photo Stream photos. You also get 5GB of additional storage for backups, data, etc. In many countries, you can use iTunes in the Cloud to download your media only when, and as needed. You can even purchase more iCloud storage for the following yearly fees:

• 10GB: $20/year
• 20GB: $40/year
• 50GB: $100/year

Beyond iCloud, there are also other options like Dropbox, Box.net, Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive, and more. All of these cloud storage services might make the 16GB iPhone all the more tempting. You might think iCloud can let you keep most of your apps and media nearline, and re-download them only when you need to, so they don't take up precious storage on your device. You might also think Dropbox can let you keep documents and photos similarly available just-in-time rather than all-the-time.

It's not a crazy idea but it's important to remember that online/nearline storage isn't always as available, fast, or convenient as onboard storage. For starters, you can't really play a movie from iCloud, you have to download it before hand watch it, which means it takes a lot of time and you have to have enough space available on your iPhone to handle the download. If you want to watch a lot of movies, you may have to watch, delete, watch, delete, over and over again. Annoying. The same goes for any large download - like 1GB+ games! - or many small downloads, like podcasts and music.

So cloud storage means you can get away with managing more content on your device than you could otherwise, but it also means you still want to have enough local storage for what you need, when you need it.

Photos and videos

The iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c can both take 8 megapixel photos and 28 megapixel panoramas, and shoot 1080p video at 30fps. The iPhone 5s can also shoot 720p and 120fps. Those can be some big files. About an hour of 1080p video can take up roughly 10GB of storage. 16GB doesn't seem so roomy now, does it?

I take a ton of photos and videos on my iPhone and back when I had a 16GB iPhone, I ran out of space all the time. And that was just 5 megapixels and 720p. And it's a huge pain in the butt to have to go through and figure out which memories and special moments you have to delete in order to capture more. So if you're really into the camera, 16GB might not work.

Apps, games, and media

As I mentioned above, apps and especially games can also take up a lot of space on your iPhone. It's not uncommon for some console-quality games to be well over 1GB in size these days. Even basic apps might include interface assets for iPhone and iPad, 3.5- and 4-inch (and now call up frameworks that might be 32- and 64-bits!). Those are some super-fat binaries!

iTunes movies can be 1-3GB in size for SD depending on the length. If you prefer watching HD, they can be 3-6GB. iTunes TV shows can be a quarter to half the size of movies, but more than make up for it by the number of episodes typically available. If you get your movies and TV shows from somewhere other than iTunes, you're still looking at about 400MB an hour for SD and over 1GB (sometimes way over) an hour for HD. Music files are generally quite small but can add up as well, especially if you have lots and lots of albums you want to keep with you everywhere. Even with something like iTunes Match or a similar music locker service, or a streaming service, you need local storage for offline playback. Again, it all adds up.

Who should get 16GB?

If you don't use a lot of apps, if you don't want to have a lot of movies and TV shows, or a huge amount of music, if you don't intend to shoot and keep very much 8mp photos or 1080p video on your iPhone, you'll probably be okay with 16GB.

Some people like to keep their iPhones light and do all their gaming and media on their iPad, and some people just don't do a lot with their phones period. If that's you, you can save yourself some cash and get a 16GB iPhone 5c or iPhone 5s.

Who should get 32GB?

If the iPhone is your primary device, if you play games on it and watch movies and TV shows on it, if you have a decent-sized music collection you want to keep with you, and if you shoot an average amount of photos and videos, 32GB is your sweet spot.

Some people like to have one device that, while it doesn't do everything all the time, it's capable enough to do most things most of the time. If you do a fair but not overwhelming amount of stuff on your iPhone 5c or iPhone 5s, you're better off going for 32GB.

Who should get 64GB?

This option is only available for iPhone 5s. However, if you're a power user who wants to keep as much as possible for as long as possible, if you have a large amount of apps and games, TV shows and movies, and a huge music collection you simply have to have with you all the time, or you shoot photos and video almost non stop and don't want to have to bother transferring it all the time... well, you've probably already decided on 64GB, haven't you?

Some people really do want their iPhone to do everything, all of the time, and never (or rarely) have to worry about running out of space. They probably want 128GB -- or even 256GB if they could get it! -- but they'll use the most they can, whenever they can. That's the iPhone 5s with 64GB.

Still undecided?

If you're still not sure about 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB, jump into our iPhone discussion forums and the best community in mobile will happily help you out.

Also, remember, in most places you have time to try out your new iPhone 5c or iPhone 5s and return it if you don't like it. So, make sure, as soon as possible, you put your new iPhone 5 through realistic paces. Load up all the apps and games you want with you, load up your movies and TV shows, go out and take some photos and shoot some video. Give it a complete and thorough workout and see. If it feels like you got too much storage, say 64GB and you haven't even gone past 2GB, or if you got too little, say you're already at 15GB of 16GB, then take your iPhone back and exchange it for one that better suits your needs.

If you come to this realization too late, after the exchange period is over, remember you can buy additional iCloud storage, or look at other options like Dropbox which will let you keep your stuff available online and potentially free up some much needed space on your iPhone.

Once you've decided, let me know - which iPhone, and which size, did you go with and why?

There are a lot of pictures of the iPhone 5c out following the announcement this afternoon - there's a video too! There are a ton of case combinations to check out, so let's dive in.

This is the iPhone 5c. At least, insofar as case-maker Krusell is concerned. We're in Berlin at IFA 2013, and just days before the Sept. 10 iPhone event — where we expect the new lower-cost iPhone to be officially announced — we've found one. Well, actually, we've found more than one. We've found a bunch of them in a whole range of different colors. We must point out though that this isn't an Apple unit of the iPhone 5c, but one of the units that the accessory manufacturers have constructed themselves as their own interpretation.

Given the source, a company that outed the iPhone 5 here a year ago, we're pretty confident this is the real deal.

First, the device. We've seen a bunch of leaks in recent weeks and months suggesting what the iPhone 5c will look like, and as you can see from these images, they're pretty much spot on. The device is essentially the same size as the existing iPhone 5, and all the ones we've seen have a white front. The color differences are round back, as we've previously heard, and we've seen the iPhone 5c in white, blue, yellow and pink here. The colors are actually pretty nice, the yellow is quite bright, but the blue in particular looks really nice up close.

The actual device does differ from the iPhone 5 — and the expected iPhone 5s — the most obvious being round the back. The much-rumored plastic shell is here in all its glory, and while it does look glossy, we'd put it in the realms of the iPhone 3G and 3GS in terms of finish.

Down bottom, there are only 4 holes for the speaker in a single line, Lightning port in the center, and the microphone and the headphone jack to the other side. The design is noticeably different, and the plastic shell also extends around the sides, top and bottom of the phone.

The buttons on the side are same in arrangement as the current iPhone 5, but different in style. The iPhone 5c buttons aren't round, but more a rectangular shape, and they appear to be color matched to the color of the shell. The mute switch is still pretty much the same in design, and the SIM card slot is still on the right hand side of the phone. Up top, power button remains the same as on the iPhone 5 as well.

As we've already stated, this isn't a working unit from Apple. But, the source of these units is one of the worlds largest case manufacturers, and they also have a ton of iPhone 5c cases here in Germany as well. So, we're confident.

Apple is going to unveil the iPhone 5c this coming Tuesday, September 10 at an event in California, so we'll see the finished article only then. For the absolute best in iPhone 5c and 5S coverage, keep it locked to iMore. For more of the iPhone 5c, check out the gallery and video below.

It looks pretty much certain that Apple will unveil a trade-up program across its retail stores soon. 9to5Mac reported on it and iMore heard it was a go as well. TechCrunch claims it's already being tested at some stores, and has even through some numbers around. They’re suggesting an iPhone 4S in good shape might fetch as much as $200.

Keep in mind that a iPhone 4S is still an excellent phone, but it’s about 2 years old now. People who bought the 4S and want to stick with Apple’s platform (which I believe to be the majority of owners) may appreciate a simple trade-up program from Apple. Yeah, they could use Craigslist or eBay to get more for the phones. In fact I’d say those sites represent the true value of these phones. So if Apple can make the transaction super easy and fast, it’s worth something to the customer. That value goes to Apple, as they pay less for the trade-in compared to what a third party buyer might pay.

What can Apple do with that phone? Ship it off to a refurbishment facility. Replace the cover perhaps. Wipe the OS and flash to the latest version of the software. Put that nice plastic film back on the product to make it feel new again. Throw the cables and manuals in a box and sell it in the emerging markets as a next-to-new phone.

This is exactly what we expect to happen in South America, and probably other parts of the world too at some point. If Apple can buy a phone back from a customer at $200 (max), spend minimal on refurbishing it and sell it at $300+, the gross margin dollars are respectable. They’ll help Apple to profitably gain market share.

How will this work with the release of the rumored less expensive iPhone 5c? This introduces a lot of potential confusion. What if the 5C is build only for China while the refurbished older models are destined only for South America? This would avoid the problem while also serving as an interesting market test.

If the iPhone 5c is sold for anything below $400 I can’t see how it makes any sense for Apple to sell a product like the refurbished 4S at $300. I just can’t see that many people being interested in a 2-year older model for a $25% price reduction. If the iPhone 5c is closer to $450, refurbished iPhones could remove an umbrella below that price point.

Either way, I think the time has finally come for Apple to attack the emerging markets with a lower price point on the iPhone. Both the much-rumoured 5C and a trade-up program leading to the sale of refurb units in other countries will help Apple gain profitable market share. As an investor, that’s what I care about.

Packages with the branding "iPhone 5c" have shown up in China, which indicate nothing more than someone, potentially Apple, potentially a knock-off company, has manufactured some boxes that read "iPhone 5c" on them. That would be C as in "Color", and likely refer to the rumored less expensive iPhone. All we know right now, however, is that someone posted it on the WeiPhone forums. But here's the thing:

Apple can finalizes product names at the last minute. Engineers, designers, etc. can all happily work off of code names. So while it's theoretically possible Apple marketing has locked down names for their September products in order to start getting packaging and collateral made, it's also possible that stuff is pretty quickly generated these days and there's no reason to lock anything down two months ahead of time.

The packaging, as presented, isn't the typical cardboard box used for the iPhone since it's launch in 2007, but something that appears closer akin to the plastic ones used for the iPod touch. That could make sense for a less expensive product. However, the iPad mini still came in a box, and the iPod touch's plastic packaging is clear (with a white paper insert), not white plastic, and the design appears far more refined than what's pictured above. Here's the packaging for the last three iPhone models and the current iPod touch:

As to the name itself, it doesn't follow any modern Apple branding conventions I can recall, where "mini", "nano", and other secondary words have been the typical modifiers. Then again, neither did iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4S, and neither would iPhone 5s. Here's how the lettering on the box, rotated in Photoshop, looks when compared to the current type used for existing iPhone lines on Apple.com:

So take a look at the packaging and let me know what you think of the iPhone 5c-as-in-Color theory or whether it's dodgy enough you'll be calling less scoop and more shenanigans? And if any one sees an iPhone 5X-as-in-eXtra-large peeking out anywhere, flag that bad boy too!

Source: WeiPhone forums