iphone 5s

The iPhone 5s is Apple’s most powerful phone to date and potentially the most game-changing iPhone it’s launched in six years. Though it's easy to dismiss this handset as iterative, the 5s is the first smartphone with full 64-bit support and a capacitive fingerprint sensor, and it also ships with a fresh, revamped version of iOS.

The 5S is virtually unchanged from last year’s model, from the cold aluminum back to metal frame with chamfered edges. Even a year on, it’s one of the best smartphone designs ever — at once svelte and sturdy, machinelike and comfortable. Its only real rival is the HTC One, itself exquisitely made; I’d love for Apple to have come up with some thrilling new design here, but there’s always next year.

The phone may feel the same, but the finishes do look different. The basic colors are subtle: silver is essentially the same as it ever was, and the "space gray" is just a lighter version of last year’s black model. They’re both nice, but neither will turn the heads of iPhone 5-toting passersby. That effect is reserved for the gold model, a champagne-colored device with white accents that really is a sight to behold.

Unquestionably, the standout features of the iPhone 5s are its newest hardware inclusions and upgrades, namely Touch ID, the M7 motion co-processor, 64-bit architecture and the all-new iSight camera. These are not only what differentiate it from the previous iPhone 5, but justify its place as the flagship iPhone when compared to the iPhone 5c.

Rounding out the spec list, the iPhone 5s features Bluetooth 4.0, a GPS and GLONASS for navigation, dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n (no ac support this time around) and options for 16, 32 or 64GB of built-in storage. As expected, it doesn't come with NFC, wireless charging or a micro SD slot. The home button looks different, with no square icon in the center and a metal ring around the concave button.

The feature most likely to attract attention, however, is the Touch ID — the new fingerprint identity scanner. Put your finger on the Home button, and just like that your iPhone unlocks. Setting up Touch ID takes a couple of minutes, during which you place your finger on the device every which way so it can learn the ins and outs of your print so it can learn who you are. Once it gets all the data it needs, Touch ID uses your fingerprint — you can teach it as many as five, and I recommend doing at least both thumbs — to let you unlock your phone without a passcode and buy things in Apple’s stores without a password. And it is indeed fast: the scanner was able to pick up all of our fingers in fractions of a second and from any angle. Apple says Touch ID only stores your fingerprints in special encrypted memory on the phone itself, where the data is accessible to neither Apple’s servers, nor to anyone else.

The new A7 processor is spectacular — the top of its class in nearly every way. Games look fantastic, faster loading times than ever; even apps seem to open and close just a little bit faster than before. The A7 implements the ARMv8 instruction set, which means it's the first smartphone to feature the sort of 64-bit architecture currently used on desktops. But what does this mean, exactly, and why does it matter? In the most basic terms, it means games and processor-intensive apps that support 64-bit will perform much better and won't drain the battery quite as fast.

The M7 "motion coprocessor" is maybe even more interesting than the A7 itself. It’s designed to collect data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, and others, and to use that data to determine the state of your phone without sucking battery life. The processor means the 5S knows if you’re driving; it knows when you stop driving and start walking; it knows when you haven’t picked the phone up for a few hours, and it can stop downloading new email so often because you’re either sleeping or you left your phone at home. 

There is one place where iOS 7 and the iPhone 5S fully embody Apple’s vision of integrated hardware and software: the camera. The iPhone 5S’s camera is incredible. Though the iPhone 5S' camera retains the 8-megapixel count of the iPhone 5, it's now capable of capturing 120 frames-per-second slow-motion video and 10 frames-per-second burst photography.

The most remarkable thing Apple did with the iPhone 5S was to change everything while appearing to change almost nothing. The processor’s faster, the camera’s brighter, and the software’s a little smarter. Today, the 5S is a minor improvement over the 5, with only the camera and perhaps Touch ID truly counting as purchase-worthy upgrades. But as Apple learns to make use of its motion processor, its 64-bit operating system, and its fingerprint sensor, and teaches its developers to do the same, the 5S will get far better.