However this is no longer the case.
The 16GB model of the iPhone 5s will be up for £549, while the 32GB version costs a wallet emptying £629 and the 64GB version is priced at a starship £709.
iPhone 5s costs more than the 5, - upping each step by £20. That's the second year in a row that Apple has increased the entry fee for the iPhone roundabout, after the iPhone 5 launch price was £30 higher than the iPhone 4S before it.The pricing of the iPhone has been increased for the rest of the Europe as well. The iPhone 5s will now cost €699 for the 16GB variant, while the iPhone 5 was up for grabs at a price point of €679.
The market hasn't received the devices well with Apples share prices taking a wallop GSM Arena reports here.
Apple have stopped making the iPhone 5 - erm no they haven't - they just stuck a load of old Lumia cases on the back and called it a 5c.
The increase in battery is most welcome, my iPhone dies around 4pm which leaves my Android phones keep trucking through the rest of the day.
Finger print, fingered ?
Announced were various features however the fingerprint scan was very interesting as Apple claim they will keep the print on the handset and it cant be used by secondary / third party applications. Even under jail break I wonder ?! Also will Apples terms and conditions change - they can access all your data, so how is the fingerprint any safer than any other "private" info is something that needs to be answered.
What else for £700
So what can you get for the eye popping £700+ on other platforms well, only the Xperia Z Ultra comes close, however for less than £600 you can get the much better equipped LG G2 (which is currently the fastest phone out there) or the waterproofed Sony Xperia Z1. You will still have enough change to spend on a weekend away with the Mrs. Although you might not have one if you tell her you just spent £700 on a fingerprint recording device.
Samsung have the S4 which maybe a year old but still looks to out spec the iPhone 5s, the CPU hasn't been tested yet and the 64bit is a solution to a memory problem not a performance one - does a 1gb RAM handset need all those address spaces ?! Erm no. Wonder how memory performance will suffer ? Although its more to do with iPads than iPhones I suspect.
Moto X (not available outside US) demonstrates what can be done with a properly configured handset and thats only dual core, oh and not 64bit in sight until 2014 anyway.
Looking at the specs against other handsets the iPhone just doesn't stand up to the price tag at all.
Now if youre looking to buy Apple iPhone 5s on contract then you might as well sell up and sell your soul. Vodafone still want £70 for the handset and £33pm for the iPhone 5 with low data usage - is that really still worth £862 for all that ?!