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Will you buy the new iPhone?

Apple has unveiled two new iPhones — the flagship 5s, introducing new hardware features, and the lower-end 5c. Do either of them strike your fancy?

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Michelle Starr Science editor
Michelle Starr is CNET's science editor, and she hopes to get you as enthralled with the wonders of the universe as she is. When she's not daydreaming about flying through space, she's daydreaming about bats.
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Michelle Starr
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Apple has unveiled two new iPhones — the flagship 5s, introducing new hardware features, and the lower-end 5c. Do either of them strike your fancy?

The iPhone 5c. (Credit: Apple)

Overnight in California, Apple announced that it would be adding two new smartphones to its iPhone range: the flagship iPhone 5s

and the colourful, plastic-backed iPhone 5c.

The 5s, available in silver, gold and "space grey", adds a few new hardware features to the iPhone 5. The most notable of these is the long-rumoured fingerprint scanner. Apple has done away with its indented Home button. The new button is flush with the front of the phone, and has a sapphire crystal coating equipped with a capacitive touch sensor for reading your fingerprint. It enables the user to unlock the phone and make iTunes purchases without entering a password, potentially locking out unauthorised purchases.

Inside, it packs an A7 processor — the first 64-bit architecture within a mobile phone. The camera has also been upgraded to 8 megapixels, with a larger sensor and f/2.2 aperture. It will retail outright for AU$869 for the 16GB model, AU$999 for the 32GB model and AU$1129 for the 64GB model.

The 5c, on the other hand, is simply a lower-cost model of the iPhone 5, replacing its predecessor — the iPhone 5 is not available on the Apple online store as of today. The 5c has a slightly higher battery life, and has replaced the glass and aluminium back of the iPhone 5 with durable plastic, in five different colours: green, blue, yellow, pink and white.

It will retail for AU$739 for the 16GB model and AU$869 for the 32GB model. For comparison, the iPhone 5 retailed for AU$799 for the 16GB model and AU$899 for the 32GB model.

The iPhone 5s in gold. (Credit: Apple)

Both phones will run Apple's latest iPhone operating system, iOS 7, and will hit the Australian market on 20 September and is coming to Optus, Telstra and Vodafone, with iPhone 5c preorders beginning 13 September. You can read more about the iPhone 5s here and the iPhone 5c here.