Just a few hours after the iPhone 5S went on sale, Apple is already telling customers and carriers that they must wait until next month if they want the gold 5S. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has asked its Asian manufacturers to boost production capacity by more than 30% for the gold iPhone 5S.
The 5S, Apple’s new high-end iPhone, went on sale today. The gold model, of course, is exactly the same as the silver and gray models except for the color. The iPhone 5S is powered by the first-ever 64-bit processor in a smartphone, and features a sensor on the home button that recognizes the phone’s owner by fingerprint. It also has the most advanced camera technology deployed to date in an iPhone. Apple focused on larger pixels instead of increasing the number of pixels in the camera. The 5S camera also offers burst mode, meaning it takes several pictures at once and then creates the best one.
The 5S is available today in Apple retail stores, on Apple’s website, in carrier retail stores, and at third party retailers including Best Buy, Walmart and Radio Shack. Before the launch, the gray model was expected by many to be the most popular in the United States, and this may have encouraged Apple to give retailers and carriers more gray phones than gold.
Contract pricing in the U.S. for the 5S will typically be $199 for the 16GB model, $299 for the 32GB model, and $399 for the 64GB model, all with a two-year contract. Other countries getting the 5S today include Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
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