iPhone 5C vs. 5S Comparison

iPhone 5C vs. 5S Comparison: Best Buy Slashes Color to $0, Flagship to $125 on Contract 

The deals, which are available in both the U.S. and Canada, are for the 16GB versions of the smartphones. Contracts options include AT&T, Verizon and Sprint.

For customers looking for a bit more storage capacity, Best Buy is also offering the 32GB and 64GB models of the 5S for $225 and $325, respectively. The 5C also comes in a 32GB variant for just $80. These deals are only available in the U.S., however. These sales can be picked up in-store and online.

The flagship 5S was recently named Digital Spy's 2013 Phone of the Year, dominating competitor Samsung's Galaxy S4 in a survey based on nearly 23,000 votes.

The new Apple flagship smartphone hauled in 56.5% of the votes, with the GS4 finishing a distant second with 19.8% of submissions. The HTC One grabbed 6.3% and the Nokia Lumia 1020 and Sony Xperia Z1 finished fourth and fifth with 5.1% and 4.5%, respectively. The iPhone 5C did not finish among the top vote-getters.

The iPhone 5S may be Apple's heavyweight competitor to the Galaxy S4, but according to new data, the smartphone's colorful companion has assumed its own loyal following—women.

On his blog, Benedict Evans snagged numbers from Facebook's ad platform to break down the sales of the 5C, discovering that twice as many women have purchased the smartphone than men. In comparison, data for the flagship iPhone 5S showed equal numbers of male and female owners.

While no conclusions were posted with the data, the 2:1 discrepancy between the sexes is certainly noteworthy and is likely an indication that Apple's marketing scheme for the 5C is directed toward finding female owners for the smartphone.

Apple's iPhone 5S and 5C were among the top-sellers in a monthly survey of U.S.'s four major wireless carriers, with the flagship finishing first and the color iPhone claiming third in all four carriers, Forbes reports.

The survey, compiled by Canaccord Genuity's Apple analyst Michael Walkley, indicate a solid December quarter for Apple. They also display how Apple and Samsung have benefited from the drop-offs by HTC, Nokia, Sony and Motorola.

Walkley writes: "Our U.S. and global handset surveys indicated strong ongoing sales of the iPhone 5s and solid sales of the Samsung's Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3 smartphones at all four tier-1 U.S. carriers and also in several international markets. Our global surveys indicated seasonally softer sales of low/mid-tier Android smartphones from Chinese OEMs in China following strong sales into the first week of the October holiday season. In addition, our surveys indicated steady global sales of Samsung's mid/low-tier smartphones backed by Samsung's aggressive promotions and pricing."

"Before the iPhone 5s and 5c's release, Apple, Samsung, HTC, Nokia, Sony, and Motorola all had handsets enjoying top-three sales at at least one of America's big four carriers. Apple's September announcement pushed all but Samsung out of the picture and relegated the South Korean conglomerate's Galaxy S4 to the runner-up position across the board.

Apple has maintained a significant edge outside of the U.S. as well, even before the long-anticipated launch of the company's devices on China Mobile, the world's largest wireless carrier. The iPhone 5s was "by far the top selling smartphone...at most channels where the smartphone launched globally," Walkley added.

Apple's reported deal with China Mobile could help the Cupertino-based company sell 17 million more iPhones in 2014, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple and China Mobile have signed with an agreement, according to "a person familiar with the situation." The iPhone is expected to be released to the carrier's 760 million subscribers on December 18.

Munster said that his estimate is "conservative" in an investors note released Thursday. He added that the deal could certainly help improve sales of the iPhone 5C, as the smartphone's subsidized price could eventually be lowered.

"We also note that if Apple updates the iPhone in the fall, China Mobile would likely get both the new device in addition to the typical pricing changes to existing devices, which could put the iPhone 5C at a more attractive mid-end price (we believe the iPhone 4 has seen significant success in China given the pricing discounts applied by Apple in CY13)," Munster said.

The iPhone 5S was a bigger hit with consumers out of the gate compared to its predecessor, according to new statistics by Fiksu.

The advertising company, which offers app marketing services for companies including Coca Cola, Groupon and Disney, reported that in the first 69 days of availability, the iPhone 5S accounted for 7.98 percent of all iPhone usage. The iPhone 5, in comparison, accounted for 6.94 percent in its first 69 days on sale. The iPhone 5C lagged behind both with just 2.78 percent of total iPhone usage in its first 69 days of availability.

While most iPhone users have an iPhone 5, that number has decreased in recent weeks, according to the Fiksu statistics. Pre-iPhone 4 users have become the minority, making up just 2.1 percent of total iPhones in use, Fiksu said.

The new Apple iPhone 5S and 5C smartphones are popping up all over the place in Japan.

According to a recent tweet by Kantar, the 5S and 5C accounted for a 76 percent share of the smartphone market in Japan during the month of October. During the same period, Japan's largest carrier NTT DoCoMo sold a large number of iPhones, with the Apple smartphones accounting for 61 percent of the carrier's total smartphones sold. It was the first time that the Japanese telecom operator offered the iPhone. The 5S and 5C went on sale in Japan September 25 through NTT DoCoMo, KDDI and Softbank.

The data seems to confirm a recent Wall Street Journal report that tabbed Japan as Apple's fastest-growing region in the world.

iPhone 5S vs. iPhone 5C: apps crash on 5S two times more than on iPhone 5C, 5

That shiny gold, quick new iPhone 5S flagship isn't working as efficiently as Apple's low-cost smartphone and older flagship smartphone, according to new research from Crittercism, reported by AllThingsD.

Apps on the iPhone 5S crash at a 2% rate, whereas apps on the iPhone 5 and 5C crash only 1% of the time, most likely due to developers' unpreparedness to Apple's new 64-bit or M7 coprocessor packed into the 5S. Apple is aware of the issues developers are experiencing, having already released two new iOS 7 updates. The increase in app crashes shouldn't be a long-term problem, anyway, as Crittercism CEO toldAllThingsD that "inevitably, over time, those issues get resolved."

Check out this comparison video review of the iPhone 5C vs. iPhone 5S.

The colorful iPhone 5C has been revealed to cost between $173 and $183 to build after $7 worth of assembly. In comparison, the 16GB variant of the iPhone 5S costs Apple $199, with the 64GB option at $218 itself. The cost breakdown was completed by IHS "during a device teardown," according to CNET. IHS claims that it costs Apple $8 to assemble the 5S units, with the rest of the cost going to its parts.

The IHS report also adds that Apple's displays are the most expensive piece at $41.

Pricey to build means more pesos coming out of your pockets too of course. Apple is pushing the iPhone 5S for between $649 and $849 and the iPhone 5C will cost you between $549 and $649 without a contract.