Inside The Numbers: iPhone 4S Vs iPhone 5 Vs The Competition

Now that Apple has finally made the iPhone 5 official we can see how well it stacks up against the iPhone 4S, (and maybe some of the competition) and see how well Apple's new phone compares to what's already on the market. Apple loyalist have sat through tons of rumors and speculation waiting for months for the newest iPhone to be released. Now that its here you might want to know what's changed and what's stayed the same, and what else might be on the market today that could offer a better device.

iPhone 4S Vs iPhone 5 what has stayed the same:

The iPhone 5 hasn't changed things a ton from the iPhone 4S. You'll still have the options of 16GB, 32GB and 64GBof storage space at the same price tags we saw at the launch of the iPhone 4, 199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB, $399 for 64GB.

You still get an 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 1080p HD video, auto focus, face detection, f2.4 aperture, backside illumination, hybrid IR filter, five-element lens and dynamic low-light mode. You'll still get about 8hrs of talk time and about 10 hours of video playback. For service providers in the US iPhones will still be limited to AT&T, Verizon and Sprint.(unlocked phones might show on other carriers later)

iPhone 4S Vs iPhone 5 what has changed:

There were really only a few changes, most of which were cosmetic in the form of a smaller casing and larger screen. The iPhone 5 has an all-new 7.6 mm anodized aluminum body that is 18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than iPhone 4S. With the iPhone 5 you'll get a 4-inch Retina Display with a true 16:9 aspect ratio featuring 1136x640-pixel resolution versus the iPhone 4S and its 3.5-inch Retina Display with a 3:2 aspect ratio and 960x640-pixel resolution. You'll also get a front-facing 720p camera vs the standard VGA camera on the iPhone 4S.

For internals the dual-core 1GHz A5 processor with dual-core graphics that powered the iPhone 4S gets upgraded to a new A6 processor that Apple says is a smaller chip that offers up to twice the CPU and graphics performance. (As usual Apple is not really talking specs so we aren't sure how realistic that is!) The last major upgrade was the addition of 4G LTE giving the iPhone 5 support for the latest LTE technology and fastest connections possible.

Rounding up the changes are minor details like a new smaller dock connector and a new smaller nanoSIM. Both of which totally replace previous versions, meaning they will not be interchangeable. Apple will be releasing an adapter for the dock connector, but customers will need a new SIM card for their new phones.

iPhone 5 Vs the Competition, how it stacks up:

So how does the iPhone 5 rate against some of the best selling phones on the market today? The Samsung Galaxy S3 is currently one of the hottest devices out there so here is a quick side-by side. Both feature 16/32/64GB of on-board storage, the Galaxy S3 however is expandable via a microSD slot. Both feature 8-megapixel rear facing cameras the Galaxy S3 however features a larger front-facing camera with a full 1.9 megapixels Vs the iPhone 5 with a smaller .90 megapixels.

The Galaxy S3 features a slightly larger 4.8-inch Super AMOLED screen with a larger 1280 x 720-pixel resolution. The S3 also features Near field communication (NFC). Overall the iPhone 5 is smaller and lighter measuring 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6mm and weighting 112g Vs the Galaxy S3 measuring 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6mm and weighting 133g.

In terms of price both devices were originally announced at about the same price tag. However, Amazon has recently been offering customers a sweet deal on a new Samsung Galaxy S III selling it for only $99.99. That is a $100 savings over the iPhone 5.

How does the iPhone stack up against some of the rest of the competition? Well here is a quick side-by-side comparison to the Nokia Lumina 920 and Motorola Droid RAZR HD.

My thoughts and conclusion

Apple has certainly been sitting on top of the smartphone market for years and they are undoubtedly poised to sale tons of devices with the new iPhone 5. In this case however it looks to me like Apple is still  the one playing catch-up. We are seeing more of the same from Apple with nothing more than a few minor updates. They are seeing the success that Android devices have with larger screens and other features and banking on their ability to incorporate those into the the new iPhone and have it continue to carry on their success.

What happened to Apple being market leader and bringing us something new and innovative?