All Things Dbroke the news over the weekend that Apple will be holding an event Sept. 10 to introduce the new iPhone. Nothing's official of course, but All Things D has a reputation for having solid inside information. It's not known exactly what Apple will introduce, but the evidence suggests Apple will announce the iPhone 5S and an iPhone 5C. Many parts and photos of the latter have been leaked, so the details of this phone seem fairly clear. The most intriguing photo, which accompanies this post, shows a carton of iPhone 5Cs in their boxes, which are clearly labeled iPhone 5C. I suspect that the "C" stands for color, since leaked photos have shown that the phone will come in multiple colors.
The video below gives a good overview of what the iPhone 5C will look like and what features it may have. The form factor will be similar to the iPhone 5, but will be just a slight bit thicker, wider, and taller. It will have a polycarbonite case rather than aluminum, no doubt to help lower the cost.
Apple is also expected to introduce the iPhone 5S,which is an upgrade to the current iPhone 5. It will look largely the same, but is expected to have new features such as a fingerprint sensor and dual LED flash. It will also likely have a faster processor. There are rumors that manufacturing of the fingerprint sensor hasn't gone smoothly and that supplies of the 5S would be initially be constrained to as few as 4 million units.
The Sept. 10 event is also expected to launch iOS 7, which will come on the new devices and will be available for downloading on other iPhones and iPads. It will feature a radical redesign of the icons and interface, but will functionally be the same.
I'm guessing that the iPhone 5C will replace the iPhone 4 and 4S, which Apple has continued to sell. When Apple CEO Tim Cook presented the results of the June quarter, he said that one reason iPhone sales had greatly exceeded Wall Street's expectations was that the iPhone 4 continued to sell so well, especially in emerging markets. It was bringing in a lot of first-time buyers. So there clearly seems to be a market for a lower-cost iPhone, and the 5C should be a popular entry in that market. it will be interesting to see what price it will carry.
The rumors don't mention the iPad in connection with the September 10 event, so any new iPad models will probably be announced at a subsequent event in October.