CUPERTINO, CA – Following months of anticipation and speculation, Apple finally revealed its latest flagship handset, the iPhone 5S. The company's new iPhone 5S made its debut at a media event here Tuesday.
Like the iPhone 3GS and 4S before it, this year's "S" labeled handset is an iterative improvement over last year's iPhone 5. It's got improved processor specs, a much better camera, and a capacitive fingerprint sensor. It has essentially the same chassis as the iPhone 5 – the new iPhone has a brushed aluminum backside and a Retina-quality display beneath the glass face. This time, its aluminum rear casing comes in three different hues: white, a new gold offering, and a slightly retooled "black" color that's now closer to slate gray.
The iPhone 5S will be available September 20th for a starting price of $200 for the 16GB version. The 32GB version will cost $300 and the 64GB version will cost $400.
The new handset includes the new A7 64-bit chip with over a billion transistors inside. It's 40 times faster than the first iPhone model, Apple says. Also inside is a new "motion co-processor" chip named the M7 which continuously monitors data from the gyroscope, compass and the accelerometer. Apple says this will enable health-monitoring and fitness apps to gather data more accurately.
Along with the newly announced iPhone 5C, the 5S is one of the first Apple devices specifically optimized to run the company's radically redesigned mobile operating system, iOS 7, which can run 64-bit applications.
The iPhone 5S's camera has been revamped. The sensor has an active area that's 15 percent larger, and the pixels are 1.5 microns – that's larger than before, which means they are able to capture more light. The 5-element lens opens to a f/2.2 aperture. A new slow-motion mode captures 720p HD video at 100 frames per second.
It takes multiple images at once, then intelligently chooses which one is the best.
The phone also has something Apple calls a "True Tone Flash" which utilizes a warm LED and a cool LED to best match the lighting in the room. The camera meters the ambient light and adjusts the balance between the two LEDs, and can generate over 1,000 variations of flash color. It also has a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera that doesn't appear to have been updated.
As many have predicted, the new iPhone 5S contains a feature Apple is calling "Touch ID" – essentially a capacitive fingerprint sensor. A stainless steel detection ring sits around the home button, and beneath it is a crystal and a sensor.
iOS 7 will teach your iPhone about your fingerprint. You can use it to unlock your phone and to purchase software and media from Apple's digital storefronts. Apple says the fingerprint information will never be made available to any other software on the device. It's only used to unlock the phone and verify your ID to Apple during purchases.
All photos: Alex Washburn/WIRED 
