Apple launches the first time a low cost iPhone - Público.pt

is a much anticipated debut: Apple first announced a model of low-cost iPhone. Called 5C and will cost $ 99. The chief executive, Tim Cook, confirmed on Tuesday the long-standing rumor. The new model goes on sale on 20 September, in five colors, but it may take until December to get to Portugal.

This is a strategic change that increases the competitiveness of the company especially in developing countries, where the price is a determining factor for consumers.

screen 5C maintains four inches from the previous version, which will be withdrawn from the market. The iPhone5 will be replaced in stores by the 5S and 5C. The latter becomes the flagship product of Apple in the embattled sector smartphones , the South Korean Samsung leads.

phones with Android operating system (Google), with a very wide range of prices, dominate the market with almost 80% market share. Consumers can choose between high-end devices, low cost or average cost. Something that until now was not possible with Apple, which has always believed in high quality products.

announced that Tim Cook in Cupertino, California, was therefore more than a mobile phone: it was a change from the path set by Steve Jobs. The heads of Apple want to return to being leaders in the sector that in June 2007 gave a definite boost with the launch of the first iPhone. This is because, in 2012, despite having sold more smartphones than the previous year, the company’s market share fell to 16.9%.

A 16GB model will cost $ 99 to 5C and 32GB will be for double – $ 199. The values ??include a loyalty contract two years, said the vice president for marketing, Phil Schiller. As with the 5S, also presented this afternoon, with prices ranging from $ 199 (16GB) to $ 299 (32GB) and $ 399 (64GB). These values ??tend to correspond to the value in euros without any exchange.

which allows 5C is cheaper is the fact that silicon be done instead of the usual anodized aluminum. Moreover, let the processor top – the A7 – for the rich relative, 5S, keeping the A6 iPhone5. Apple says that the A7 is twice faster than the A6 and that the new operating system, iO7, is prepared to take advantage of its potential.

iO7, announced in June, will be available for download on September 18. Can be used in most current models of the iPhone (from 4) and iPad (from 2). The 5C and 5S have come to stores with the new operating system installed, which should happen on 20 September in countries like USA, Canada, UK or Japan, and in December the rest of the world.

5S is also equipped with a technology that is a complete novelty in smartphones : biometric security. Users of the iPhone can block devices so that only their fingerprints is possible to access them. However, at a time when the role is controversial technological giants like Apple in the spying program of the National Security Agency U.S. (NSA), which seems a security measure raises questions about how the data will be used . Schiller tried to rest consumers: “All fingerprints are encrypted and protected within a secure enclave.”