It's official! The iPhone 5C lives, and in the words of Phil Schiller it's "more fun, more colourful." Inspiring stuff.
- Find out what we think in our hands on iPhone 5C review
The iPhone 5C will rock up in green, yellow, blue, red/pink and white, with a seamless body without any lines or joints.
iPhone 5C release date and price
The iPhone 5C release date has been confirmed for September 20, just 10 days after the phone's announcement and if you want to register your interest early you can pre-order the 5C from September 13.
- Where can you get the iPhone 5C? Find out here!
The hope was that the iPhone 5C would be a cheaper iPhone and while we were never expecting a bargain basement price tag the final cost has taken us by surprise a little. Could that C stand for costly?
If you fancy getting you're hands on a SIM-free iPhone 5C it'll set you back $549, £469, AU$739 for the 16GB version and $649, £549, AU$869 for the 32GB model.
Spec me up
In terms of the tech specs under the hood the iPhone 5C rocks up with the same A6 processor and 4-inch Retina display you'll find on the iPhone 5.
You'll also get an 8MP rear facing camera, 1.9MP HD front facing snapper for Facetime as well as LTE, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity. And of course it will we running iOS 7.
- Before you buy it, read up on the 10 things you need to know about the iPhone 5C.
It's interesting to note that the iPhone 5C will support more LTE (4G) bands than any other phone, meaning it will work on pretty much any 4G network around the world - music to the ears for users in some countries.
No more metal, kinda
Now onto that body - oh yes so much has been said about that body. The iPhone 5C has indeed ditched the aluminium of its flagship namesake in favour of hard-coated polycarbonate.
Now before you start panicking about soft plastic Apple has revealed that hiding under the unibody plastic shell is a steel frame which also doubles as the antenna.
As if all that wasn't enough Apple will also be offering rubber skin cases for the iPhone 5C, priced at a princely $29. £25, AU$39 a pop - they'll ensure your lovely plastic phone is protected, from minor bumps at least.
Previous rumours...
iPhone 5C display
There is some confusion over the screen size on the iPhone 5C, with some reports suggesting it will pack a 4.5-inch display, while others point towards a smaller 4-inch offering - similar to the one found on the fifth generation iPods and iPhone 5.
If Apple is really looking at a more affordable iPhone we'd be surprised if it turns up sporting a screen which is bigger than the iPhone 5, and we reckon 4 inches or below is far more likely.
Don't go expecting the budget iPhone to pack the beautiful retina display of its brothers though, with the low-cost handset far more likely to land a lower resolution - possibly 1,136 x 640.
Other reports suggest Apple may return to its origins and supply the cheaper iPhone with a 3.5-inch display, while some free thinkers out there are musing that the iPhone 5C could sport a screen bigger than 4 inches, at least in some Asian markets anyway. Watch this space.
iPhone 5C chassis
We've become accustomed to the iPhone's premium design, with high quality materials oozing style and class, but things could well get a lot more plastic on the iPhone 5C.
Both the Wall Street Journal and Digitimes suggest Apple is preparing to cover the budget iPhone in polycarbonate instead of aluminium and toughened glass, in an attempt to keep the cost down.
Apparently the budget iPhone 5C won't just be a jazzed up iPhone 3GS, nor will it be a scaled down iPhone 5, with iLounge claiming the cheaper iPhone will be an absurd mash-up of the latest iPhone and iPod, plus the original iPod classic - retro!
Our first potential glimpse of the cheap iPhone was offered by the image below, which shows a while handset with a lovely plastic finish and a design which is reminiscent of the iPhone 3GS.
And if you're unsure about that iPhone 5C name, then explain these boxes - of course they could be fakes but it adds another piece to the 5C puzzle.
The iPhone 5C chassis may have even been leaked in a YouTube video, which poses the simple question "iPhone 5C?"
Rarely do we see leaked images which aren't blurred, but in the case of the iPhone 5C a couple of rather crisp photos have popped up online from SonnyDickson, claiming to show the budget iPhone.
iPhone 5C colours
What's this, an iPhone which doesn't just come in black and white? Well yes, that may become reality with a cheaper iPhone on the cards.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (who actually has a decent track record) reckons the budget iPhone will be available in a range of colours, with apparently between four and six choices.
This was followed by sources who spoke to Macotakara, claiming the cheap iPhone will be available in five colours - which could see it sport the same blue, red and yellow which accompany the black and white on the current range of iPods.
However if you would rather believe other rumours, black won't feature on the iPhone 5C after all, being replaced by green instead.
More on the budget iPhone 5C
In terms of other specs details have been hard to come by for the budget iPhone, although we've now seen a report which suggests the handset will sport an A5 processor and 5MP rear camera.
There might be some good news in the camera department on the iPhone 5C however, with recent reports suggesting the cut-price iDevice may in fact sport a 8MP rear snapper.
While the specs and materials may be cheaper, lower-rent versions than the iPhone 5S, there's a good chance that the iPhone 5C will launch running iOS 7 like it's pricier siblings.
Well, we say a "good chance" but we're really just going on this slightly questionable video from C Technology and its "friends" who filmed the handset running the latest Apple OS.
The iPhone 5S looks nailed on to arrive on September 10, but the cheaper iPhone 5C could still elude us. Sure there are a whole lot of rumours floating around touting a budget iPhone, but this would be a serious move away from the iPhone norm for Apple.
That said it launched cheaper versions of the iPod years ago, and last year saw the introduction of the iPad mini, proving that the firm isn't afraid of scaling down its top selling products to appeal to a wider audience. So all is not lost on this front.
We still have reservations over the iPhone 5C name though, as even if Apple claims it stands for "colour", or something obnoxious like "cool" or "creative" people are always going to see it as "cheap".
Now we're pretty sure that's not a tag Apple will want to be linked with, so we wouldn't be surprised if there's a dramatic twist in the naming tale for the cheap iPhone 5C.