Apple unveils new iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s smartphones - live updates

We're done here: we'll have further analysis as it's needed. In the meantime, thanks for (nearly) all the comments, and we'll see you next time.

That these phones are pricey. Here are the UK off-contract prices:

iPhone 4S (you know, from 2 years ago): 8GB model available for £349.

iPhone 5C: £469 (£390.83 ex VAT) for the 16GB model and £549 (£457.50 ex VAT) for the 32GB model.

iPhone 5S: £549 (£457.50 ex VAT) for the 16GB model and £629 (£524.17 ex VAT) for the 32GB model and £709 (£590.83 ex VAT) for the 64GB model.

That. Is. Pricey. Apple clearly hasn't had the memo about the top end of the smartphone market getting squeezed. Or perhaps it is counting on the shock of the new for the 5C to draw in new buyers, and the must-have idea of the fingerprint sensing on the 5S to get people to go to the top end. 

It will really have to rely on the fingerprint sensing being a compelling feature (which, in fairness, it probably will be: securing your smartphone is essential, and this is a good solution to unlocking it). One odd thing - people who use their phones as a work device probably won't be able to benefit, because the mobile device management (MDM) systems have to work across all sorts of devices - so they generally just impose a passcode. Fingerprint sensors won't apply. (Though you'll still be able to use it to buy stuff.)

Since this is the topic of some discussion, here's Apple's comment on fingerprint storage in the 5S: "All fingerprint information is encrypted and stored securely in the Secure Enclave inside the A7 chip on the iPhone 5s; it’s never stored on Apple servers or backed up to iCloud."

(Unsurprising that Apple would have thought of that after all the NSA rows over Prism etc over the summer.)

To those with a passing knowledge of pixels and screen resolution, Phil Schiller's statement that "bigger pixels make better pictures" might have seemed a bit odd.

But he's absolutely right. When it comes to cameras, the larger the physical pixels on the image sensor the more light they can detect per pixel. HTC with its “Ultrapixels”, and now Apple, have moved to physically larger pixels without increasing the pixel counts of their latest smartphone cameras.

In essence, this has two effects on the images captured by a smartphone camera. The low-light performance of the camera is vastly improved because more light can make its way through the lens onto each pixel, in effect increasing its sensitivity. The result is a picture that is brighter, with better colour saturation and less grain compared to cameras with smaller pixels.

However, the downside is that in bright light, the lower pixel count necessitated by the increased individual pixel size can produce a potentially less detailed, less sharp and smaller image compared to standard camera sensors.

Ian Fogg of IHS: "Apple dramatically expands the addressable market for the iPhone with new operator deals in China and Japan, plus keener 5C pricing"

Francisco Jeronimo of IDC: "Apple brings biometrics to a new level, from a corporate environment to the consumers' hands.. A much better camera in the new iPhone was needed as competitors have improved significantly in the last year".

Benedict Evans of Enders Analysis: "So, nothing of real substance was saved from the leaks, except the price, which is evolutionary."

While Elvis plays us out with (What's So Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding.. 

-Apple hasn't dumped all the old iPhones: the 4S lives on, while the 5 introduced last year is already for the chop. (Like the iPod mini being killed in favour of the iPod nano after 18 months.)

- it hasn't priced the 5C to chase the midrange prepay market outside the US. That will work fine inside the US, but it leaves the question open of whether the "new" will draw buyers in the way that it needs to so that it can keep developers from shifting to Android-first.

- no iWatch, no Mac Pro, no iPads, no Apple TV. The Mac Pro is one of the most-delayed products ever (pre-announced in June; still unseen). 

It's .. it's... it's... Elvis Costello! (Suggestions for tracks, please.)

Cook is recapping... "our most forward-thinking technologies". (Odd phrase.)

Ad time - showing people using the "cheaper" 5C. There must have been lots of actors signed up to the most incredible non-disclosure agreements to do these. "For the colourful". (And the younger, vivacious, it looks like.)

No sign of the iWatch; no sign of the Mac Pro; no sign of... oh wait. "I'd like to return to music for a moment. Music is deeply embedded in our DNA. We do really love music.." Ah, it's not "one more thing", it's "one more artist". 

"It's never stored on Apple servers or backed up to the iCloud. That's great news."

It's certainly interesting in the context of surveillance. Expect much more on this.

Schiller is back on, we've been hearing about the iPhone 5S "our most forward-thinking phone yet". Must be the reveal for the price... "16GB for $199.. 32GB for $299... 64GB for $399." Those are post-contract prices, for the US. This is a super-top-end phone.

And leather cases too. (Seriously? Cases?)

"So now you've seen our two new phone lines."

Oh, and the iPhone 4S is going to be kept on - "free" in the US.

Pre-orders start on 13 September, on sale 20 September in the US, UK and other others including China.

In Japan with NTT DoCoMo. No mention of China Mobile - which would be the difference between kaboom! and mmmmOKay.

Schiller is setting up the security story. "A passcode.. some people find it too cumbersome. In our research about half of smartphone customers do not set up a passcode on their device, and they really, really should."

Touch ID: "uses a key you have wherever you go. Your fingerprint. It reads your fingerprint.. Touch ID capacitative sensor. 500ppi resolution. 170 microns thin. Scans sub-epidermal skin layers. 360-degree readability."

"And they put it right into the home button.. it now includes the Touch ID sensor in a ring around it. It knows that you're there." A sapphire lens over the top.

"Touch ID has been built deeply into iOS 7. You can simply touch the home button to unlock your phone."

And can also use it for purchases.... from Apple online accounts.

(The query, though, is how long the fingerprint sensor will last. But if it has a sapphire lens over the top, then it should be "at least as long as your phone contract lasts.")

And - that's another supply chain leak that's been accurate. Though putting it together with the acquisition last year of Authentec, the fingerprint recognition specialist, made it pretty obvious.

Also: works with any finger; and in any orientation. That's useful.

10 hours 3G talk, 10 hours LTE browsing, 10 hours of video. Let's get that in.

Can take 10 frames per second while you hold down. Oh - this is the same as we've seen with many other cameras. "If every time you did this you had to sort the photos... that would be boring." Instead it presents what it thinks will be the favourite from the camera roll. (Smart, but it brings it up to the others.)

And next feature: Slo-Mo. (Again - forecast in leaks.) "Capturing HD video at 720p at 120 frames per second.. all these are simply in service of taking a great picture."

(Apple gets that taking a picture should be about just capturing the moment, not figuring out which of a dozen settings you want to have.)

"Most of us just want to take a picture," Schiller says - a dig at Samsung's tons of options which quickly overwhelm you.

f2.2, 15% larger sensor area. "Our competitors would stack more on there to get a number on the spec sheet." He says "bigger pixels = better picture." (Really?)

"The new software in iOS 7 has been designed to take advantage of the new image sensor." Automatically does auto white balance, exposure, dynamic local tone map (for highlights and shadows), autofocuson and picks sharpest one of multiple photos "unbeknownst to you". 

And "True Tone Flash" - which allows for ambient light. "Whatever colour your flash is it's going to clash with the colours." And a dual-LED, as predicted.

(So far, the supply chain leaks have all been absolutely spot-on; only the price and the silicone cases for the iPhone 5C hadn't leaked.)

It continuously measures motion data. And with new software and applications "you'll get a whole new level of fitness apps." Also: "optimisations based on contextual awareness. Identifies user movement."

This is Apple prodding into the health space (Tim Cook is reckoned to be a fitness enthusiast). Worked with Nike to produce a new app telling you what you've done and where and how far you've gone.

(Is that Fitbit kicked to the kerb?

(this bit is...kinda hard to describe in words. Um, a dragon. Sword. Lots of detail. Noisy. Fire. Ooh, sky. OK, finished.)

Schiller is making much of increased graphics performance. "Increased 56x since the first iPhone, half of that coming today with the iPhone 5S."

If you wonder... what difference is having 64-bit going to make? Schiller's response is to get Epic Games up to show off something processor-intensive. Oh, Infinity Blade, which feels like a game that's basically designed to be shown off at iPhone launches - rather like tha bakeoffs that Schiller and Steve Jobs used to run, back when it was all Macs and Photoshop.

"It is the gold standard in smartphones." 3 metal finishes: "silver, gold and "space grey". (Wait, not champagne? We're going to call it champagne.)

Performance... used to mean graphics cards and fans. Now consumers want great performance that fits in the palm of their hands. 

A7 chip - 64-bit - "the first-ever in a phone of any kind.. the PC world took years to go from 32 bit to 64 bit. We're going to do it in one day, with hardware, and all-new applications."

"A 64-bit desktop-class architecture. Over a billion transistors. 2 floating point registers. iOS 7 has been reengineered for 64-bit as well." (They kept that quiet.) "All built-in apps re-engineered. This is seamless for customers."

(On this basis, some people will be carrying 64-bit phones before some people have upgraded from 32-bit PCs running Windows XP.)

"The most forward-thinking phone we've ever created, perhaps that anyone has ever made. Packed with incredible technologies in service of using these in the way we want to."

Video.... of magma? The slow reveal on this one. Dual flash on the back. Ah, yes, there's the "champagne" colour.

Supports more LTE bands "than any other smartphone in the world". Bluetooth 4.0.

(So the question now, is, what is the price going to be? If this is the low end, what is the high end?)

"A price of just $99." Translated from the American, that's about $550 outside the US on prepay.

Quick analysis: So Apple isn't chasing the low end of the market. Or, really, even the middle range. How, then, is this going to drive sales? It might work in the US, but won't - unless the "new" and the "colour" works together to get people to buy them.

In pricing terms, this will cost about what the iPhone 4S was costing last week. Except it's new. So Apple will appear to be at the lower end - but it's really not mixing it with the midrange Android phones.

That said, it'll probably sell by the gazillion. Remember, Cosmo magazine is here: cheaper, colourful and new phones will have big appeal.

"As close as you look you won't see seams or part lines. Vibrant icons, translucency, it creates an entire experience of colour. And it doesn't stop with the phone design." And cases too, made of silicon. With cutouts. Which you can combine "to create exactly the look that you want."

"It's made of a hard-coated polycarbonate" (isn't that plastic, mommy?) .

Spec time! 4in retina display. Widescreen video. A6 chip. Higher capacity battery than in the iPhone 5. 8 megapixel iSight camera. 3x zoom.

"Made with all the incredible technology that customers have loved with the iPhone 5.. more colourful than any iPhone we've made yet. A few of you may have seen some shots on the web.. and that's cool.. but you haven't really seen it yet."

Video - showing lime green, strawberry pink, sky blue, lemon yellow, white - phones. "This is iPhone 5C."

Onwards to the iPhone. 'iPhone 5 took our business to an entirely new level.. in the past we've lowered the price of the old iPhone, making it accessible to a new group of people. This year we're not going to do that. The business has become so large that this year we're going to replace the iPhone 5 and replace it with not one but two new designs. This allows us to serve new customers." 

Phil Schiller, head of marketing, comes on. Now we're into the meat of the presentation.

Keynote and Pages and Numbers (Apple's version of PowerPoint, Word, and Excel)... plus iPhone and iMovie: "a really key advance for customers' productivity.. no other platform has any apps like these."

"Today we're announcing that we're making all five of these industry-leading apps free." That's quite a move - Apple staking a claim to content creation. (It also showed a web-enabled iWork in June, so this is a key move.)

The new photos display organises them by date (year/month/event) - which is a lot better than the old "wall of photos" format.

"AirDrop" - lets you send photos to other people really easily.

Music app - iTunes Radio, which will let you create new stations or work from a single track. Federighi is a Rush fan. Well, we all have our faults.

"Over 200 features.. and our developer community has been hugely inspired.. you'll see many more coming into the App Store."

Federighi says "it's like getting a whole new device." It will be available for free from 18 September. iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later.

Federighi pointing out that there's a "commute help" - when you tell it where you live and where you work, it will warn you about commute times. (That's a stab at Google Now.) 

Apps can be updated in the background. 

Safari web browser comes on a sort of rolodex, multiple screens.

Siri is "massively improved". He shows "What's Lady Gaga saying?" and it searches on Twitter. (This didn't look like a live demo tbh. Or else it was super-ultra-fast.)

Ah, and new phone ring sounds. They've all been redone, it seems. "We've improved the system alert sounds as well." All more sci-fi like - to me, they sound a bit Android-y.

"We've been hard at work on iOS 7.. and next month we will ship the 700 millionth iOS device.. and since we make updates easily and available to as many customers as possible.. iOS 7 will quickly become the world's most popular operating system."

Gauntlet thrown there, Mr Android and Mr Windows 8. Craig Federighi (head of software) comes on to show off iOS 7.

"Great to see everyone, thanks for joining us. Special welcome for those joining us in Beijing and Berlin and Tokyo."

Excited about things, but first - updates.

iTunes Festival. (Big music festival. In its 7th year.) Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake... all in London. Wow - 20 million people applied for tickets. "It's like an opening weekend for a product!" Laughs from the audience.. 

(Cook is looking more relaxed than he has in previous presentations. In the past he's come across a trifle stiff. So far he's seemed more at ease.)

You know what we're expecting the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C to be like, but what about you, our readers? What are you expecting the next chapter in Apple's iPhone to be like?

Maiers takes a slightly cynical approach, which we're not too far from agreeing with, at least in the sales numbers.

iphone 5C : Samsung build quality, Apple's operating system.

A marriage made in hell.

It will sell gazillions.

Maiers10 September 2013 10:25am

Fwoggie's probably pretty near the mark with his views. If Apple doesn't improve the battery life and at least attempt to fix its ghastly maps, we'll be very surprised.

The good:

Better battery life

The bad:

A new maps app (give it up, Google's better, just license that)

The ugly:

That gold covered case.

Fwoggie10 September 2013 10:30am

Stephenjpc's obviously not a fan of Sir Ive with his unique brand of minimalism and seeming obsession with colourful, flat design. Something tells us Sir Ive wouldn't need to work again if he really got the boot from Apple.

Jony Ive to get his P45

Stephenjpc10 September 2013 11:06am

The patent wars are far from over, and you can almost guarantee the lawyers will be all over the next few competing phones, Jill O'Sullivan. It's certainly a good time to be a patent attorney, that's for sure.

just like the Galaxy S4 and and thus another 2 years of ligation between the 2

Jill O'Sullivan10 September 2013 11:11am

Revolutionary has never looked so evolutionary, according to Chinaski75 at least.

5s - It will be exactly the same design as the current one, maybe slightly thinner yet there will still be a video from Johnny Ive claiming they have gone back to the drawing board and completely redesigned it from scratch!

5c - It won't be made of plastic, it will be made of a material exactly like plastic but with a cooler sounding name, that Apple have just invented!

Chinaski7510 September 2013 11:12am

... Yahoo chief executive Marissa Meyer in the audience.

The lights fade and "Out of My League" by Fitz and the Tantrums (thanks, Shazam) fades down. It's time to kill some rumours.

Apparently Jack Dorsey is at the Cupertino end of the show. Hmm, is that for payments integration? Paypal showed off a fascinating ad on Monday called Beacon which seems to rely on Bluetooth for mobile payments. How does this all fit together, and is Apple's new AirDrop (which uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for a peer-to-peer item sharing system) part of it?

There's no expectation of NFC in the new iPhones - so if Apple has some sort of mobile payment solution that uses Bluetooth, things could get very interesting. Pretty much every phone has Bluetooth now.

...they usually get it wrong. Here's the results of a poll of Japanese consumers from 2007 about "what they wanted from their next phone" .

Most popular item? Memory card (342/1000). And a full browser? only wanted by 69/1000. Rather trumped by "nothing in particular" (331/1000). If you went by consumer polling like that, you'd build something like Homer Simpson's car, for mobiles.

Potentially with the iWatch in tow, and of course with the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C headlining, will Apple have some more details on the Mac Pro too?

Having shown off the divisive new Mac Pro “dustbin” design at WWDC in June, details of the new professional Mac have been scarce leaving OS X-using video producers in limbo with ageing hardware. Will Apple finally announce a release date and full details of its true processing power and keep professionals on-board?

That's Cosmopolitan magazine, which has sent its deputy features editor over to see what's happening. (They're beefing up their gadgets coverage, apparently.) And what would they think if the rumours are correct, and the next iPhones come in multiple colours? "That would be really popular," we're told. So perhaps Apple is going to take the same tack as it did with the iPod mini (which was available in multiple colours, and was a huge hit with women). Of course, colours will then look like a completely obvious thing to do. The challenge is always handling how many of each colour to produce. You don't want to be left with people demanding strawberry red when you've got a few thousand lime green out the back..

Update: seems Heat magazine is here too. Phew. (thanks @Boydhilton.)

... go all 'Inspector Gadget'.

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There’s no doubt millions of people will want Apple’s next iPhone, but should they be thinking more about how their mobile phone is produced, rather than how new and shiny it is?

Apple is promising that its first low-cost iPhone will "brighten everyone's day". But reports about conditions at the factories subcontracted to make Apple products jar with the upbeat image. Workers making the handset's cases are being asked to stand for 12-hour shifts, with just two 30-minute breaks, six days a week, investigators for the non-profit organisation China Labor Watch have found.

It’s not just Apple, however, as almost all major mobile phone manufacturers like Samsung, Sony, Nokia and HTC use similar factories, with poor working conditions for workers. Does a much smaller crowd-funded model provide a viable alternative?

A Dutch company called Fairphone has had some success in crowd-funding what it believes will be the first entirely ethical smartphone. After securing 14,537 pre-orders for its €325 phones, which customers have paid for upfront, Fairphone will go into production in time for Christmas.

Fairphone will carry out regular audits to ensure the legal limit of 60 hours per week per worker is respected. It has also set up a fund to top up pay so that employees receive not just a minimum wage, but a living wage.

Of course, that doesn’t take into account the environmental impact of producing a mobile device, but it’s a start.

Today’s announcement promises two new iPhones, but perhaps the fabled iWatch might be Tim Cook’s “one more thing”?

Rumours and reports were rampant about three months ago, circling around Apple producing a smartwatch. Competitors certainly took note, as both Samsung and Qualcomm launched their own smartwatches in Berlin just last week at the IFA electronics trade show.

However, the rumours have since died down, and there have been no part leaks from Apple’s supposed production lines, unlike the the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C.

Does that mean that Apple’s entry into the smartwatch arena isn’t ready for primetime yet? Or has Apple’s once-legendary secrecy managed to keep the iWatch largely under wraps?

Watch out for one on Tim Cook’s wrist later today.

If you're wondering precisely which models of what iOS product will run iOS 7, can we introduce you to the iOS Support Matrix, which isn't from Apple but instead comes from the folks at Empirical Magic. (It's even available as an app.)

So now you can grind your teeth in frustration, or go "yay!", depending on how keen you are to have iOS 7. How keen are you to have iOS 7? Let us know.

Jony Ive's redesign of Apple's mobile operating system marks the biggest change to date.

Older iPhones, including at least the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 should be able to download the new, colourful and flat iOS 7 soon after the event today.

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Users who update to the latest Apple mobile operating system will benefit from enhancements to Siri, Apple's digital voice-activated personal assistant, as well as the camera app, and a new interface for its Safari web browser.

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Apple's new flat design brings with it a parallax visual effect, which subtly moves the background around as you tilt the phone. The effect makes the flat app icons appear to float above the background, producing a pseudo-3D effect.

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iTunes Radio is set to debut on the iPhone with the iOS 7 update, as well as a feature called AirDrop, which lets users send files from their computers to their phones over a Wi-Fi network.

Reuters: The 5C is all about emerging markets. Charles Arthur also explained how the launch is being screened in China a few hours after California/Berlin (owing to the time difference) - a significant indication of what this launch represents for Apple.

The Telegraph points to more leaked pictures which appear to confirm fingerprint security.

The Independent picks up those rumours of bigger screens, though we think those are prototypes being planned for a later model rather than the phones being released today.

Daily Mail says the iPhone is heading for an iFlop (well done that sub!) because Samsung overtook as the most profitable mobile company, Apple is losing market share and the rumours are "boring".

ABC says Walmart is pre-empting the launch with its smartphone trade-in scheme.

iOS 7 is the software that will power the new phones - but also run on old ones, back to the iPhone 4 (sorry, 3GS owners) and iPad 2 (sorry, original iPad owners). Apple previewed it in June but hasn't announced a release date.

A question from Twitter on iOS 7 availability: today, or "are we going to have to wait"? If this is anything like the past two (or even three) years, then it will go "Gold Master" (ie publicly usable) today, probably with a few tweaks and fixes from the previous beta. But it won't actually be available for download and installation for a couple of weeks - typically, a day or two before the phones themselves go on sale.

Recall that two years ago the release of iOS 5 caused a huge traffic spike. Will iOS 7 do the same? Hard to say, but last year seemed to pass without the same problem. 

Blackberry (remember them?) has laid off around 60 people from its sales team in Canada. Cantech got the story early on and our telecoms correspondent Juliette Garside has confirmed that these are US-facing roles and that no UK staff are affected. Blackberry's statement to us:

“We are moving a small number of US-focused sales roles that were based in Canada to the US to be more closely aligned with our customers. As previously stated, we are in the second phase of our transformation plan. As part of this transformation, BlackBerry will continually evaluate its organization – from top to bottom – to ensure we have the right people, with the right skills in the right locations to drive new opportunities in mobile computing.”

Lee Clow, the ad man behind Apple's 'Think different' campaign, told the Guardian's John Plunkett the social media means that brands are interrupting consumers to try and get them to buy without a more meaningful message or relationship.

Dan Gillmor wrote today that he doesn't care what Apple launches because he left the ecosystem long ago, infuriated by the control-freakedness of the whole thing. 

Needless to say, my scenario has almost no chance of becoming reality. Sad to say, control-freakery is a growing part of the overall tech and communications industry, as companies centralize power and become partners with government spies in the process. But out at the edges, where some customers still value their liberty, the discontent with this behavior is growing.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has, if nothing else, demonstrated an ability to be a pragmatist. Surprises are a common theme of Apple keynotes. I'd be thrilled beyond belief if Cook would spring this surprise Cook on the world, someday soon.

iTunes Radio is live in the current iOS 7 beta that’s with testers around the world at the moment, and reports have come in that Apple’s changed the featured stations to “Spin the Globe”, Trending on Twitter, iTunes Top 100: Pop and Pulse #Now.

Take from that what you will for what that means for the music for today’s event. At least it's an indication that Apple’s looking to polish iTunes Radio before its big debut when iOS 7 becomes publicly available.

What track do you think Apple's going to play at the beginning of its keynote in Cupertino, California today?

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The iPhone 5 is going to start looking a lot more old and tired by this evening, which might be why EE’s just launched its mobile phone trade-in scheme.

Anyone at least six months into an Orange or T-mobile contract can upgrade to a 4G EE plan by simply returning their phone and paying a one-off fee starting at £49, depending on your choice of 4G plan. EE’s Pippa Dunn said:

With smartphone innovation moving at a relentless pace, we realise that some customers want to move to the latest handset at the earliest possible opportunity. That’s why we’ve introduced Swap to sit alongside our existing upgrade offers – providing a new, simple and easily affordable option for pay monthly customers to move to the latest 4G smartphones.

If you’re looking to upgrade to the iPhone 5S or iPhone 5C, should Apple pull another hit out of the bag, and you’re an EE customer not already on 4G, EE’s Swap service could prove the cheapest way to upgrade.

In-between the recommendations for Android handsets (more on that soon!), below the line you've been asking each other what the 'i' in iPhone stands for. 

KingEricNo7 asked if it was true that 'i' stood for 'interim', marking Steve Jobs' return to Apple in 1996 (it was actually 1997). Nope, said Raptou - it stands for 'internet'.

The 's' of Samsung's S4 stands for 'superior to the iPhone', infinitedistraction tells us. Presumably the 'z' in BlackBerry's Z10 just stood for zzzzzzz.......

Also an excellent point from ivantal, soon to be much explored. (The point, not ivantal. Or maybe both?)

Given Apples location tracking issues not so long ago and the alleged relationship between tech companies and the NSA why would anyone want to store their finger prints on an i device?

Lastly londonscot, who said they'd be interested if there was a Nano-sized iPhone. I (Jemima, this is) couldn't agree more. There's certainly a use-case for a screen-less, audio input-only phone once Siri (and indeed Google's speech recognition) works on all (relevant) apps. And I'm not talking about speaking into your watch. Oh no...

Apple is looking to expand its advertising assault, with a significant recruitment drive for its internal marketing teams.

Ramping up capabilities represents a necessary shift in direction for Apple, which under the late Steve Jobs "was fairly strict about the headcount in that group," said the executive, who asked not to be named. "The group didn't grow proportionally to the company as it went through astronomical growth, and that was partly because Steve wanted Apple to be seen as a products company, not a marketing company."

Given Apple’s extremely polished adverts and brand image (and what with Steve Jobs being arguably the world's greatest marketer ever and all) you could be forgiven for thinking Apple was already a marketing company...

The Apple Store is currently offline, which normally means Apple's adding new products to its store and site, unless it's suddenly had to do some impromptu maintenance, that is.

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Expect acres of analysis of this post-announcement, but what really are the implications for fingerprint security?

Just one year in, 92% of Apple iPhones are running iOS 6 in North America, with iOS 5 trailing at just 5%, according to Chitika Insights’ web traffic analysis.

Apple’s iOS 7 brings radical changes in the appearance of the mobile operating system, and some iDevice owners have voiced their discontent at the design alterations.That being said, if Chitika Insights’ data is anything to go by, most of us will be running iOS 7 on our iPhones and iPads this time next year.

That’s certainly one way to keep fragmentation to a minimum.

As Apple is allegedly “confirmed” to be about to include a fingerprint sensor in the iPhone for the first time, we’ve put together a quick rundown of what you need to know about your finger and its powers to identify you.

A type of image capture system specialised for quickly capturing and storing the imprint of your finger will be embedded below a swipe panel – in this case possibly below the home button on the iPhone 5S – which the user runs their finger over. The sensor captures the image and software analyses it for the skin indentation pattern on your fingertip, comparing it to a set of pre-stored data and verifying your identity.According to a recent patent filed by Apple in Europe, the sensor will implement an RF sensing system that will not only accurately capture the ridges of your finger, but also image the live skin below the surface of your fingertip to prevent spoofing of the system with a Mission Impossible-style fake fingerprint.

Meanwhile, a supposed piece of the quick-start guide has leaked for the iPhone 5S, and it looks like Apple will call its finger-scanning home button ring the 'Touch ID'.

Hopefully users will be able to finally do away with pesky pins and iTunes passwords.

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Well, it was good enough for Spandau Ballet (that was a band in the eighties, Samuel) but the upgrade to the 5 - the 5S - will come in a subtle gold hue. A champagne, if you like.

More on that in Samuel's rumour round up.

Now that we've just about got over the excitement

OF AN S!

AND A C!

...we can stop shouting.

That's the rumour. One phone at a slightly cheaper price, in bright colours. This piece by Samuel Gibbs will tell you as much as we know, until 6pm (or 10am, west coast)...

Apple is very good at building up expectation, but we all know the power of a montage...

It's a phone. It's got an 'i' in front of it. And it's new. 

It's - iPhone launch day!

The Apple-consuming world is eagerly anticipating a first tonight, with chief executive Tim Cook expected to reveal not just one but two new handsets.

iPhone 5S, we assume, will be faster, feature a better camera, a new gold-ish option and - the exciting bit - possibly new Minority Report-esque finger-print access. We think £530 ($830 equivalent, though the phone on contract would be less).

The iPhone 5C is a new departure entirely - Apple's first not-exactly-budget-but-a-bit-cheaper phone at £350-£450 ($550-$700), but in the tried and tested jelly-bean blue, red, yellow, green and white (if a jelly bean white is indeed possible) tough plastic casing.

That's what we expect - but what will Apple deliver? 

The keynote kicks off in California, streamed to a sister event in Berlin, at 6pm BST (10am PST). We'll be here until then and beyond, sharing every rumour nugget, insightful news line and weighty analysis we can muster. 

Get the popcorn in, and hang about with me, Jemima, here for the afternoon, with more from Samuel Gibbs (our new tech reporter, starting on a quiet week!) and then Charles Arthur - live from Berlin - later today.