iPhone 5S or iPhone 5C? 10 Good Reasons to Pick One or the Other

by Don Reisinger

Apple’s iPhone 5S comes with a new fingerprint sensor known as the Touch ID. The company says that the feature will allow for more security and could enhance the overall protection of data. That appears to be the case.

Who can argue with the iPhone 5C’s price? For a 16GB handset, customers will be set back just $100 with a two-year agreement. Granted, the iPhone 4S is available for free with a mobile service contract. But that a new iPhone can be purchased for so little is good news for many customers.

Apple’s iPhone 5S A7 processor is a notable step up over the A6 and A6X that were made available in previous handset versions. The chip is faster and more powerful, and thanks to its 64-bit architecture, it will allow for applications to load and respond very quickly.

Apple’s iPhone 5C brings color back to the company’s world. The device comes in a wide array of colors for customers to choose from, and in most cases, they’re quite nice. The iPhone 5C might not have the 5S’ firepower, but it might just win out on colorful looks.

The iPhone 5S comes with another chip, called the M7 coprocessor. According to Apple, that feature will allow the device to analyze movement constantly and allow for applications to respond in kind. It’s a feature that could be integrated quite heavily into fitness and health apps.

There are still many people out there who don’t have an iPhone and want to jump into the smartphone game. For them, the iPhone 5C might be just what they need. The device is cheap, it’s running the same iOS version found in the iPhone 5S, and it can come with enough storage for entry-level users to get by. It’s not a bad option.

There are some customers who just don’t like Android, and the thought of adopting the Samsung Galaxy S 4 smartphone is anathema. For those folks, the iPhone 5S seems like a better bet. The device has a nice design and is about as powerful, thanks to the A7 processor, as Samsung’s option. Overall, it’s a nice device.

The iPhone 5C was supposed to be a midtier handset to compete against products like Nokia’s Lumia line and Samsung’s second-line products. However, the device has a 4-inch screen and a Retina display, and can run iOS 7 with ease. If that’s a midtier device, it’s providing an awful lot of value to customers.

It’s no surprise that Apple quickly sold out its initial stock of the gold-colored iPhone 5S. Current buyers will have to wait until at least October to take delivery of a gold iPhone. The device is good-looking and appeals to customers who want a special, stylish experience. It’s a nice option for quite a few customers.

The iPhone 5C, again, was supposed to be a midtier device. However, the handset comes with a camera that can match just about any device on the market. The iPhone 5C has an 8-megapixel camera that can snap high-fidelity photos with ease. Plus, its video-recording capabilities are stellar. Overall, the iPhone 5C performs quite well from an image-capturing perspective.