During today’s highly anticipated event, Apple unveiled not one, but two iPhones for the masses: the iPhone 5c (the cheaper, more colorful cousin to the iPhone we all know and love – see details here), and the new iPhone 5s.

All about Accessibility

Apple’s caught wind of the going smartphone trend – cheaper price tag, more features.  Battling Samsung and Motorola in a looming fight for consumers in an incredibly crowded smartphone market it helped create, Apple’s realized that accessibility is crucial to the survival of the iPhone.   Not only are the new iPhones friendlier to our wallets (the 5c costs $99 for 16GB, while the 5s costs $199 for 16GB), but appealing in terms of color and design.

• New fingerprint scanner replaces Home button

The new iPhone 5s is now available in silver, gold and space gray, and is missing the familiar square in the Home button.  We now know the reason for the modified Home button – it’s been converted into a fingerprint scanner, called Touch ID, to identify multiple users, boosting the security for the device.  The new fingerprint scanner works 360 degrees, so you don’t have to orient your fingertip accordingly.  A new sapphire-cut lens now covers the revamped Home button to protect the fingerprint scanner.

The scanner can also be used to authenticate secure purchases on iTunes, and will hopefully expedite the unlocking process.  Your fingerprint information is stored on the A7 chip (see more details below), making this data secure, Apple says.

Design + Specs

The 5s no longer features the glass and metal band design on the back, but is now completely aluminum on the back side, and is still two-toned. Today’s iPhone 5c has a seamless transition from glass to back, and in multiple colors too.

The iPhone 5s features improved battery life, an A7 chip (64 bit), and graphics to rival your game console (according to Apple).

You’ll also get 10 hours of talk time on 3G networks, and the same goes for LTE, for talk time and browsing.  The 5s boasts 10 hours of video playback, and 40 hours of music.  It can survive 250 hours on standby.

• Camera & processor 

Now onto the camera.  The iPhone 5s’s camera has a new, 5-element, Apple-designed lens with F2.2 aperture, with a dual-element flash, called True Tone Flash, for color and amber.  Macro shots have also been improved.

There’s also a new processor motion tracker, the M7, which means the iPhone itself has more potential as a fitness tracker (a perk for self-quantified junkies).

Ready to buy?

There’s certainly a number of changes Apple’s made to the iPhone 5, but one thing remains the same for the new 5s – the price.  You can get the 16GB for $199, 32GB for $299 and 64GB for $399, with a two-year contract.  For another $39 you can get a special case for the 5s, made of leather (moleskine style).

5c pre-orders start this Friday, Sep. 13th, and you can purchase the iPhone 5c and 5s in stores beginning Sep. 20th.  No pre-orders for the 5s.  Available countries include the US, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore and the UK.  Japan is launching at SoftBank, KDDI, and NTT Docomo for the first time.

“This is the first time we’ve been able to launch an iPhone, at the start, at the other countries and China. We are so proud of the work the team has done to make that possible,” says Phil Schiller, the senior vice president of worldwide marketing at Apple Inc.  “The iPhone 5s is the most advanced iPhone ever, with our most forward-thinking technologies.”