Geekisms!

Yes, there's are two new iPhones, the 5c and the 5s. What was surprising was that the current iPhone 5 will be discontinued in favour of the iPhone 5c (the c probably stands for cheap) which is basically an iPhone 5 in a different shell. A plastic one this time, available in five different colours. All of its specs are exactly the same as the iPhone 5 except for a newer front-facing camera and a bigger battery. It also has new coloured silicone cases with fancy circle designs which contrast with the colour of the plastic back covers and look pretty neat. No word yet on the price of the iPhone 5c unlocked ($99 for 16gb, $199 for 32gb on a 2 yr contract in the US) but judging by the specs and design, I'd say Apple is gunning for the developing countries and China with this one. Apple is definitely looking to take on the Global champion (Samsung) as well as other local champions in whatever market it may reach.

The real poster child of the launch event however was the iPhone 5s (IMHO the s stands for superior) which sports the same physical design as the discontinued iPhone 5. All the improvement is on the inside however with a brand new 64-bit A7 processor which Apple claims is 40 times faster that the last generation processor. Of course than means insane graphics performance as was displayed with a demo of Infinity Blade 3. There's also an M7 coprocessor which handles motion detection (from the accelerometer, compass and gyroscope) and will provide data for fitness related apps like the Nike+ app (just an aside: but what is the deal with smartphone makers and fitness features these days? Are people really enough people using these features because I can't seem to make sense of it). Also in the box is improved camera hardware and software which allows for burst mode capture, image stabilization, HDR, dynamic flash that adapts to the environment and Slo-Mo capture (720p video at 120 fps). You can be sure that last feature will find its way to a majority of Android phones within the next few months. Its most interesting feature however is the fingerprint scanner which is embedded in the home button of the iPhone 5s and allows you to unlock your phone or perform secure transactions just by touching the home button. Pretty nifty feature, especially ifyou get tired of typing your password everytime you want to login or purchase something from an online store. I'm sure this feature too will find its way to android or at least the next Samsung Galaxy phone next year. 

Available in 3 different colours, the iPhone 5s  will launch September 20 along with the 5c in 9 countries (including China and Singapore) and will be available in over 100 more before the end of the year. 

An impressive salvo from the Apple camp though I would have loved to see a bit more from the software side besides UI redesigns. Everyone now looks to Google for a fitting reply to this in the form of Android 4.5 (KitKat) and the Nexus 5.