I’m struggling to see any difference between the 5C and the 5 in the tech specs – the camera seems the same from a hardware perspective. The only differences between the two phones seems to be those features related to ios7 which current 5 owners will get soon anyway.
There are significant differences to the camera; the pixel count is the same, but the sensor is bigger, with larger pixels, giving better low-light performance, there’s a 120fps feature in video, the processor is now the A7, 64bit processing, with an M7 co-processor that handles all geo-location, movement, etc. Theres a lot going on ‘under the hood’, as it were.
First, instead of packing in more megapixels they packed in a sensor that delivered bigger pixels. Because, as Phil Schiller so pointedly stated, Bigger pixels = better picture. Bigger pixels mean more light, better range of color, and less noise.
Second, before you even take the picture it automatically sets the white balance, exposure, creates a dynamic local tone map, and matrix metering autofocus for fifteen focus zones (a feature not even all dSLRs have). Then, once you take the shot it actually takes three and then analyzes each in real time for which is the sharpest and that is the one you see.
Third, the new True Tone Flash. Now, I want you to understand something, there are photographers who spend thousands of dollars on flash and lighting equipment alone to achieve what this flash can do. It combines both a cool white and warm amber LED and, in real time analyzes the color of the surrounding and fires the flash to suit, thus giving you the best possible flash for that environment (over 1000 possible color variations). No other flash in any camera ever produced can do this. Let that sink in.
Next, auto image stabilization that, in real time, analyzes those multiple photos it takes with each shot and then — if they are all a bit blurry from movement or shaking, selects the sharpest portions of each image and combines them into the best possible picture.
Throw in burst mode at ten frames per second with the added bonus of allowing the camera to select the best of the shots based on a dozen variables, slow motion ability in the video shots (which captures at HD, 720p, 120 fps), and the fact you wont have to spend a thousand dollars on some dSLR that would only get you half of these features because the rest are world first and not available in any other camera, and you know what you have?
From Minimalmac
There’s a fair bit of hyperbole about the above, there’s no 20x optical zoom, for a start, or interchangeable lenses, but there’s still quite a lot going on there. One problem with pano photos on the 5, for example, is overblown bright areas in skies, like white clouds, so that’s an area that’s being improved.
It’s odd, though, that the 5 is being dropped, but the 4S is being kept; having said that, I still use my iP4, and I prefer the construction to the 5, it’s just more substantial.
But heck, tech moves on apace. 😀