iPhone 5C officially announced, entry model will cost £63 on contract

A fresh low-priced iPhone 5C model has been revealed by Apple’s senior marketing VP Phil Schiller today (September 10th).

Following months of rumours, Schiller announced the iPhone 5C, which comes in a range of colours – green, white, blue, red and yellow. There are also six separate coloured cases available, with users encouraged to mix and match phone and case colours to customise their device.

Referencing the rumours, Schiller said: "A few of you might have seen some shots on the web. And that’s cool, because everyone is really excited about this."

"You won’t see seams, or part lines, or joins. The entire back and sides are made from a single part," he added.

The material of the 5C is "hard-coated polycarbonate" reinforced with interior steel, with Apple releasing custom plastic cases which have circular cut-outs in order to reveal the brightly coloured back of the phone.

The screen is a four-inch Retina display, much like the existing iPhone 5.

Another similarity the 5C shares with the current iPhone 5 is the presence of Apple’s A6 processor, as well as a rear 8-megapixel camera.

The battery is slightly larger than the iPhone 5. Also improved from the iPhone 5 is the front-facing camera, which is the new ‘FaceTime HD’ camera.

Schiller said the iPhone 5C will support more LTE bands than any other smartphone in the world. The phone’s connectivity options include dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.

No off-contract options for the iPhone 5C were announced, with Schiller revealing the prices to be $99 (£63) for 16GB and $199 (£127) for 32GB on a two-year contract. Apple’s cases will cost $29 (£18).

iOS 7, the release date of which was also announced at the event, was also said to be designed for the iPhone 5C.

The iPhone 5S was also announced at the event, which like the iPhone 5C, will launch on September 20th, with pre-orders available from this Friday (September 13th) onwards.