iPhone 5S and 5C Australian launch details revealed

Australian iPhone 5S and 5C details
Your one-stop shop for Aussie iPhone info!

It takes a lot of commitment to get up at 4am to watch a live stream of a new phone launch.

So if you decided to sleep in this morning instead of watch the Apple iPhone announcement, here's everything you need to know from the Australian perspective.

iPhone 5S

The new flagship of Apple's range, the iPhone 5S delivered pretty much everything we expected.

Integrated fingerprint scanner, 64-bit A7 processor, improved iSight camera with dual LED flash - there wasn't a lot in the way of surprises.

While you can catch up on the 10 essential things you need to know, or simply read the review of the new iPhone, there are pertinent questions every Australian has to ask.

The phone is coming in three colours (gold, silver and space grey) and in three capacities (16GB, 32GB and 64GB).

The outright prices for these three phones will be $869, $999 and $1,129 respectively. Apple has confirmed that Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, Virgin Mobile and "select Apple Authorised Resellers" will sell the phone from Friday September 20.

Confusingly, Apple has five different variants of the iPhone 5S launching around the world to support different network standards.

At this stage it's not clear which versions will be launching in Australia, but looking at the phone's tech specs page, it's interesting to note that the A1530 version supports both FDD-LTE and TD-LTE technologies.

That means that Optus may get a version of the iPhone 5S that supports its TD-LTE network in Canberra.

It also means that we can expect different variants of the handset for different carriers, which should make grey importing the phone slightly more confusing.

Other iterations of the handset all support the LTE bands currently used by Telstra and Vodafone, meaning there shouldn't be any issues connecting in the short term.

iPhone 5C

Just like the premium iPhone 5S, the iPhone 5C will be launching in Australia on September 20.

If you need a primer on what makes the 5C different, it's worth checking out the essential 10 things you need to know, as well as our superb hands on review of the low-cost iPhone.

There are only two capacities launching for the iPhone 5C. SIM-free, you can expect to pay $739 for the 16GB and $869 for the 32GB version.

All the major telcos are getting in on the 5C action, as well, with plan pricing to be confirmed in the lead up to launch.

While the 5C bears more similarities to the iPhone 5 than the 5S, Apple has also updated the LTE band support in the newer model.

That means that like the 5S model, there are five versions for different networks around the world, with the A1529 version supporting Optus' FDD-LTE and TD-LTE 4G networks.

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Having spent the past decade editing some of Australia's leading technology publications, Nick's passion for the latest gadgetry is matched only by his love of watching Australia beat England in the rugby.
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