News & Reviews:   Apple iPhone 5C

Starting off the new year with a deal, Celcom are now offering the Apple iPhone 5C from a more affordable price of RM1888 for the basic 16GB version with, in their own words "no strings attached", which means zero contract. This offer is available from 2 January 2014 to 7 January 2014 but is exclusive to online sign ups only. The other Celcom offer involves the HTC Wildfire S, Nokia Lumia 520 and Sony Xperia U, where Celcom is offering these previous generation entry-level smartphones for FREE provided you sign up for a 12 month or 18 month contract. That deal ends on 31 January 2014. Check out the table and links in the article for more details.

While many are still rather miffed that the C in the Apple iPhone 5C stands for Colour, those who do like a colourful iPhone would probably want some equally colourful iPhone accessories. Looking to make these users happy, Olloclip have come out with a more colourful version of their 3-in-1 clip-on lens. The clip-on lens kit still offers the same macro, fisheye and wide-angle lenses for the close-ups, wider shots and a 180-degree perspective shot add on lens for your iPhone 5C. Priced a bit less at $59.99 (RM197) the Olloclip 3-in-1 lens clip for the Apple iPhone 5C comes in blue, neon green, red, yellow and white. It should be available in January 2014 so keep a watch for it at our MobileMegaMall.com sellers.

The rumour that Apple may be making a smartwatch called the Apple iWatch in 2014 is getting more meat and details as other rumours pop up. One of the latest is that we may be getting two types or sizes of Apple iWatch come this 2014, a 1.7-inch Apple iWatch for men and a 1.3-inch Apple iWatch for women. This rumour comes courtesy of analyst David Hsieh who has been quite accurate so far about previous Apple products. While this prediction does not mention how exactly each Apple iWatch may look or what tech specs they may have, it is a very logical conclusion. Traditionally, watches are very different in terms of size for men and women, after all, you probably won't see a large Rolex or sports watch on a woman's wrist or vice versa. While Apple have traditionally followed the one-size-fits-all design paradign they recently changed this approach when they released the Apple iPhone 5S and Apple iPhone 5C, so the rumour of two different Apple iWatch smartwatches according to gender sounds like the right way to go. As usual, do take this with a pinch of salt, as a rumour remains a rumour until it is proven.

The Apple iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C are finally fully available within Malaysia both on the Malaysian Apple Store as well as for most of the telcos in Malaysia. This includes Celcom, DiGi and Maxis for now. For a complete customizable comparison based on price, etc, check out our Technave.com:

• Apple iPhone 5S plan comparison tool
• Apple iPhone 5C plan comparison tool

For those looking to check out the individual telco Apple iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C plans check out the Celcom, DiGi and Maxis telco plans in this article.

Maxis is also announcing their Apple iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C plans under their iValue plans which also include the iValue Simple plan. Unlike the other telcos, Maxis aren't offering that much in terms of monthly rebates but are instead offering the more standard free calls, sms and data quota. All subscribers get 10GB worth of Cloud Storage on Locker though. For more details, check out the table and links in this article.

DiGi are also offering the Apple iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C but this time aren't really reducing the price of the smartphone but giving more monthly rebates throughout the contract period. Unlike some other telcos, DiGi are offering the two Apple iPhone models under a single 24-month contract but this one has a bit more value where the monthly rebates are concerned. After subtracting the monthly rebates you can see some pretty good prices for both the Apple iPhone 5S and the Apple iPhone 5C. For more details check out the table and links in this article.

Celcom are now offering the Apple iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C after their midnight launch under their Celcom First postpaid plans + mobile internet packages. Subscribers do get the choice to go for either a 12 month or 24 month contract but also have monthly rebates throughout the period of the contract. While the Apple Malaysia store already has the prices for the two Apple iPhones, the Celcom plans are offering the Apple iPhone 5S models at an estimated retail price RM50 lower than those on the Apple Malaysia store. The Celcom Apple iPhone 5C prices are only different for the 32GB iPhone 5C model with an RM40 reduction from the usual price. For more details, check out the table and links in this article.

Apple has recently revealed the latest versions of their tablets, the Apple iPad Air (Apple iPad 5) and Apple iPad mini with Retina Display (Apple iPad mini 2). Offering new 64-bit A7 processors, improved design and tech specs and the aforementioned Retina Display for both tablets it now makes for an interesting choice of which Apple tablet to choose. We'll be covering this question in this comprehensive tech specs comparison between the Apple iPad Air and Apple iPad mini with Retina Display, so do read on. 

On top of all the other Apple announcements, the Apple Malaysia store managed to put in the pricing for the Apple iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C and the previous Apple iPad mini (with no Retina Display). As the images show these are listed as:

• Apple iPhone 5C 16GB ~ RM1999
• Apple iPhone 5C 32GB ~ RM2399
• Apple iPhone 5S 16GB ~ RM2399
• Apple iPhone 5S 32GB ~ RM2749
• Apple iPhone 5S 64GB ~ RM3159

While the Apple iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C are already slated for a Malaysia release date of 31 October  2013 to 1 November 2013, the official pricing for the smartphones in Malaysia have yet to be released. However, Malaysian Wireless has recently got some insider information regarding what could be the official pricing of the newest Apple iPhones. This includes:

• Apple iPhone 5C 16GB ~ RM1899
• Apple iPhone 5S 16GB ~ RM2299
• Apple iPhone 5S 32GB ~ RM2599
• Apple iPhone 5S 64GB ~ RM2899

While these are not official prices, they do match rather closely with the price of the Apple iPhone 5 when it was launched last year at RM2199. It also matches with what Apple have done for other countries with weakened currencies like Japan and France which have seen minor increases in price for the new Apple iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C smartphones.