Apple unveiled the iPhone 5 on Wednesday and will begin selling it next week. Here's a look at the key differences and similarities between the iPhone 5 and its closest competitor, Samsung's Galaxy S III, which was released in Europe in May and the U.S. in June.
iPhone 5 tech specs:
— Display: 4-inch (diagonal) with a resolution of 1136 by 640 pixels.
— Memory capacity: 16, 32 or 64 gigabytes, depending on price. There's no way to expand it with memory cards.
— Price: Starting at $199, for 16 gigabytes of memory.
— Size: height: 4.87 inches; width: 2.31 inches; depth: 0.30 inch (124 x 59 x 7.6 mm)
— Weight: 3.95 ounces (112 grams)
— Cameras: 8-megapixel camera on back, 1.2-megapixel on front.
— Video recording: high-definition (1080p — comparable to the resolution of a 40-inch flat panel TV) up to 30 frames per second with audio
— Battery life: talk time is up to 8 hours on 3G. Internet works for up to 8 hours on LTE and up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi. Up to 10 hours of video playback. Battery can be replaced by service personnel only.
— U.S. wireless carriers: Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint Nextel and others.
— Network compatibility: 3G networks worldwide, plus 4G LTE networks in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Germany, U.K., Australia, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore.
— Operating system: Apple's iOS 6 (will also be available for download to older iPhone models)
— Near-field communications: None.
Samsung Galaxy S III tech specs:
— Display: 4.8 inches (diagonal) with a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels.
— Memory capacity: 16 or 32 gigabytes. Can be expanded by up to 64 gigabytes with a memory card.
— Price: As low as $99 for basic model
— Size: height: 5.4 inches; width: 2.8 inches; depth: 0.34 inch (137 x 71 x 8.6mm)
— Weight: 4.7 ounces. (133 grams)
— Cameras: 8-megapixel camera on back, 1.9-megapixel on front.
— Video recording: high-definition (1080p — comparable to the resolution of a 40-inch flat panel TV) up to 30 frames per second with audio.
— Battery life: Up to 9 hours of talk time (depends on network). Battery replaceable by user.
— U.S. wireless carriers: Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and others.
— Network compatibility: 3G networks worldwide, plus 4G LTE networks in the U.S., Canada, South Korea and some other countries.
— Operating system: Ice Cream Sandwich version of Google's Android
— Near-field communications: A chip lets the phone act as a credit card at some payment terminals and share data wirelessly when tapped against some other phones.
