Unlocked iPhone 5 price announced, up for sale in the US

The unlocked iPhone 5 has finally hit the Apple online store in the US and its basic 16GB version carries a price tag of $650. It was already available through carriers like AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless in the country. Needless to say, the smartphone’s 32GB and 64GB variants can also be picked up without a contract.

The company in question put the unlocked device up for sale on its official website, which was spotted by the guys over at AppleInsider. Those who pre-order the phone now, are likely to receive the shipment within a week. It does not work with CDMA carriers like Verizon Wireless or Sprint in the US, but can run on the mobile networks of GSM service providers such as AT&T, reveals Apple. Also, this phone works with a nano SIM card from any local GSM carrier in countries across the world.

For refresher’s sake, the sixth generation iPhone flaunts a taller form factor which is said to be comfortable to hold, thanks to its sleek profile that measures not more than 7.6mm in thickness. The device tips the scales at 112 grams and its front panel is graced by a 4-inch diagonal multi-touch Retina display, capable of rendering HD images in 1136 x 640p resolution at 326ppi. It even boasts of a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating on the screen.

There’s a front-mounted HD FaceTime webcam for facilitating video conferencing on the move, while an 8MP iSight camera dominates the back panel. It possesses attributes like auto focus, LED flash, face detection, panorama mode, geo-tagging, video stabilizer and the ability to capture 1080p videos at the rate of 30 frames per second. And if that’s not enough, it can even click images while recording videos.

Furthermore, the iPhone 5 takes advantage of iOS 6, the latest platform from the company which tags along an improved Siri application and over 200 new features. Besides iCloud integration, it comes with the new Maps app and a number of other attributes like AirPlay and AirPrint. It gains steam from the A6 chip and coughs up the juice for talk time or LTE browsing time of about 8 hours.

The 16GB, 32GB and 64GB unlocked iPhone 5 can be picked up via the Apple Online store for $649 (approx. Rs. 35,285), $749 (approx. Rs. 40,645) and $849 (approx. Rs. 46,070), respectively.

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