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Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Consumers Speak On Apple's iPhone 5S

Sinduja Rangarajan |
September 17, 2013 | 9:55 a.m. PDT

Staff reporter

Apple recently announced their flagship iPhone 5S, an upgrade over their current model iPhone 5, on Sept. 10, creating a lot of buzz amongst technology enthusiasts and consumers alike. The phones will be available in stores starting Friday.

Some of the notable new introductions with the iPhone 5S are the A7 chip which facilitates faster processing speeds, an improved camera with True Tone Flash technology, and the fingerprint sensor or the Touch ID, which is already attracting a lot of attention.

The Touch ID is a way by which users can unlock their phones by using their fingerprints. Up until now, users have always had to type in their pins to unlock their phones. 

We at NeonTommy, talked to Apple consumers in the Silicon valley to know their opinions on the iPhone 5S. What we found is that consumers appreciated the Touch ID, but felt that the phone otherwise did not offer enough improvements for them to buy it. 

SEE ALSO: iPhone 5S to be released in September

Vinod Seetharaman, a doctor working with Hewlett-Packard Co. and a self-proclaimed fan of Apple products, called the concept of Touch ID ‘mind blowing’. 

“ [The Touch ID opens up] many opportunities beyond just unlocking your phone. It could be [used] for payments or so many other things. I think that’s a great thing and I am glad that it’s as simple as just putting a finger on there and making it work for you. I think we have seen almost everything else in the previous versions of the iPhone, so not so kicked about everything else, but definitely the Touch Id bit.”

“It doesn't have much innovation other than a finger print scanner, which is kind of cool, not that much has been changed. They have [introduced] the A7 chip, but its not that much faster. The camera has a few other new features, but not much. So doesn't make me want to buy it.” said Jensen Hsiao, a 17-year-old senior at the Palo Alto High School.

Susan, a mother in her early forties who owns multiple Apple products, feels positive about Apple as a company after the announcement of iPhone 5S.

She said, “[This announcement] just continues to show innovation and them stepping into the future.” However, when asked if she was going to upgrade to the iPhone 5S, she said, “I [would] probably look for something more before I jump to the next version, because my product now works fine.”

While most of the consumers are optimistic about Apple’s future, they still miss the maverick co-founder of Apple - the late Steve Jobs. They feel that to continue to lead the path for innovation, Apple should not just focus on delivering improvements over their previous phone versions but design different kinds of products that look into the future.

“Certain announcements like the iWatch or the Apple TV…these are the things I was looking forward to…but they are still maintaining the same tick-tock sort of product cycle. 4, 4S, 5, 5S. I think they need to bring more products to the market, whether it’s a mobile phone or some other consumer device that will be disruptive.” said Seetharaman echoing the opinion of several other consumers. 

 

Reach staff reporter Sinduja Rangarajan here.



 

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