iPhone 5S & iPhone 5C Off-Contract Prices Confirmed

The iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C off-contract prices have been confirmed by Apple with the iPhone 5S commanding the usual $649 off-contract price tag and the iPhone 5C arriving with a steep $549 starting off-contract price tag.

Today during Apple’s iPhone event, the company revealed two new iPhones, the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, which will be pushing out the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4. Apple’s iPhone 5S will start at the usual $199.99 while the iPhone 5C will start a $99.99 for a 16GB model. Apple will keep the iPhone 4S around as the company’s free iPhone variant. Those prices will require a contract.

Apple also confirmed the off-contract prices for the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C through its website. The iPhone 5S will start at $649 off-contract for the 16GB model, standard for the company’s premium iPhone option, while the iPhone 5C is going to be just a tad less expensive.

Read: iPhone 5S Carriers Confirmed in U.S.

Rumors going into today’s iPhone event suggested that the iPhone 5C could be around $500 off-contract. In reality, the device will start at $549 off-contract for the 16GB model and will jump up to $649 for the 32GB iPhone 5C, or, same as the iPhone 5S.

What this means is that the cheapest iPhone 5C off-contract pricing is going to be far more expensive than Google’s Nexus 4 which checks in with an unlocked price of $250 for a 16GB model. The Nexus 4, however, does not have LTE.

Google is expected to debut a new Nexus smartphone, currently dubbed Nexus 5, which could come with a much cheaper price tag than the iPhone 5C if it follows in the Nexus 4’s footsteps. The Nexus 5, unlike the Nexus 4, is expected to feature LTE data speeds like the iPhone 5C.

Apple’s new iPhones will be out before the Nexus 5 arrives with a release date set for September 20th in the United States. All four major carriers will be offering the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C and will start taking pre-orders for the iPhone 5C starting on September 13th. There will be no pre-orders for the iPhone 5S ahead of its September 20th release date.

The company’s iPhone 5S retains a design similar to the iPhone 5 while adding in big time upgrades like a fingerprint reader, A7 processor and a new camera sensor. The iPhone 5S will come with a similar 4-inch Retina display but will instead feature an 8MP camera sensor and a plastic shell that offers various colors.