Apple is likely to reveal the iPhone 15 series at its upcoming September event, which can be exciting, but the launch of a new iPhone is not what it was years ago. Users today can only expect Apple to bring incremental upgrades or too-little-too-late features like a USB-C port.
Things were wildly different just 10 years ago. Going back to 2013, the iPhone 5 had been on the market for a year, and the rumor mills were abuzz with what exciting new developments people would get to see at the company's event that year. It ended up being a landmark year for the iPhone series, both for better and worse. Apple announced the revolutionary iPhone 5s with a lot of firsts in the smartphone industry, but it also launched the iPhone 5c. So, it managed to launch an iPhone for a lot of people and then an iPhone for nobody.
The pre-launch: iPhone 5s and 5c rumor roundup
Rumors preceding the launch of a new piece of tech aren't a new thing, and certainly not when it comes to the iPhones. A flurry of rumored features coming to the next iPhones were being thrown around, but not without reason. Apple had made certain decisions in the year leading to the release that, in hindsight, provided crucial insight into what the company was setting out to do. One of the most important of these was Apple's acquisition of biometrics and security tech company AuthenTec a year prior. This, coupled with Apple publicly claiming that the upcoming iOS 7 would focus heavily on security, made people believe that the new iPhones would have a fingerprint sensor. There were even leaked images of an iPhone 5s with a ring-like boundary around the home button, further bolstering the claim.
Elsewhere, other sources claimed that the new iPhones would receive a new A7 processor and an improved camera system. Even a new gold color was expected to be introduced alongside the standard black and white models. While the bulk of the excitement was hogged by the iPhone 5s, some sites claimed that a more affordable iPhone 5c would also be released and come in a variety of colors.
The iPhone 5s: 'S' is for special
When the iPhone 5s was announced, almost all the rumors turned out to be true. It brought radically upgraded hardware that was way ahead of not just previous iPhones but also the competition. The upgraded A7 SoC was the first 64-bit processor to be housed inside a smartphone. Apple also introduced the M7 "motion co-processor" for dedicated motion processing of the phone's accelerometer and gyroscope data.
The inclusion of a new fingerprint authentication sensor also turned out to be true, with Touch ID making its first-ever appearance. The "ring" seen in leaked images actually triggered the sensor embedded in the home button. It also did more than expected, as Apple showed off how it could not only unlock the iPhone but also be used to authenticate App Store and iTunes purchases.
The iPhone 5s also brought a revamped camera to the brand, with a larger aperture and a dual-LED flash for better low-light images. Many of the other design elements resembled the iPhone 5, such as the 4-inch display, materials, button placements, and even dimensions. But the innovation under the hood made the iPhone 5s one of the biggest gen-on-gen improvements in the iPhone's history.
The iPhone 5c: 'C' is for (anti)climactic
On the other hand, we got the more affordable iPhone 5c, which, despite Apple's good intentions, didn't manage to please nearly as many people. Sure, it was a budget phone, but it was also cheap, thanks in part to its polycarbonate body and the lack of several key iPhone 5s features. The starting variant had 8GB of memory, and there was no revolutionary A7 processor, no Touch ID, and no improved camera system. The phone was essentially an iPhone 5 with LTE and improved battery life.
The availability of fun colors like green, blue, pink, and yellow helped a bit with the appeal, but overall, at $549, the iPhone 5c was simply priced too close to the $649 iPhone 5s despite lacking most of the important key features. The company's new strategy of bringing in a more affordable new phone instead of slashing the price of last year's flagship didn't seem to work as well as expected.
Though both iPhones sold around 9 million units combined during the first launch weekend (a record at the time), it's widely reported that the 5s sold three times as much as the 5c. The narrative around the cheaper phone settled to one of disappointment. Despite being an affordable iPhone, the 5c was still pricier than Android competitors like Google's Nexus 5 and the OnePlus One. Moreover, stock issues at the time resulted in fewer iPhone 5s phones available in the market compared to the iPhone 5c. The 5s was frequently sold out while the 5c remained on shelves and online stores, clearly showing what the consumers wanted more.
iPhone 15 and beyond: Innovation and affordability
After the poor reception of the iPhone 5c, Apple dropped any plans of bringing another "affordable" iPhone next year. But the iPhone brand was big enough even in 2013 to absorb the failure of the iPhone 5c and even the Bendgate fiasco of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. In subsequent years, Apple managed to avoid issues like the "misplaced antennas" of the iPhone 4 and brought iterative but innovative updates to future iPhones like the notch and the Dynamic Island, or significant upgrades to the camera, processor, display, and touch features.
The company even took another shot at an affordable iPhone but executed it better in the form of the iPhone SE (2020) and later the iPhone SE 3 (2022). There's even an iPhone SE 4 leak that might see Apple refreshing the SE lineup with a much more advanced model this time around. With the iPhone 5c, it was great to see Apple trying something new, even if it didn't work.