Last Friday, while waiting for dim sum with a friend at a neighborhood haunt in San Francisco, I whipped out the gold iPhone 5S I had on loan from Apple (AAPL). I waved it around, like someone who just got engaged might exaggeratedly wag their ring finger for attention. When that didn't work, I loudly demonstrated to my friend how the device's fingerprint scanner worked.

    That's when the couple next to us perked up. They stared at the phone, then back to me with looks of bitterness and jealousy. "We waited three hours this morning at the Emeryville store," griped the woman, who had hoped to buy a gold 5S with her boyfriend but struck out: the Apple store only had a few of them.

    Throughout dinner, the pair glanced at the 5S on our table, longing for a device seemingly as precious as gold itself. Why they wanted it, of course, is a matter of personal preference. But there's no denying that in the six years of the iPhone's life, the device has become a highly coveted status symbol: The owner with the newest model during those first few weeks becomes a kind of transient trendsetter, someone worth envying to those who must wait weeks or months until their own devices arrive.

    By now, the Apple faithful know that when the letter "S" trails the name of a new iPhone, it will look a lot like last year's model. The iPhone 5S doesn't buck that formula, but it does toss in enough new tweaks to warrant what Apple has called "incredible demand." (It's already backordered through October.) The subtle champagne-hued gold, a new addition that joins the iPhone 5S's space gray and silver, is enough to alert keen, nearby observers that the user possesses Apple's latest. Other than that, the 5S looks almost exactly like last year's light and svelte 5, from the size of that 4-inch Retina display to the two-tone glass and aluminum back. It also weighs the same 3.95 ounces.

    More has changed on the inside. At its product announcement earlier this month, Apple played up its new A7 processor, one of the first smartphones to run on 64-bit architecture. While Apple has said the A7 offers twice the speed as its predecessor, it also allows for more data to be crunched at once. For now, that mostly translates to faster app launches and smoother animation -- both were noticeable from the get-go -- inside the new iOS7, a radical revamp of the mobile operating system that ditches the previous skeuomorphic look for one that's flatter and cleaner. (Although the software team clearly had a lot of fun with sweeping transitions and animations: apps, screens, and messages swoop, zoom, and bounce quite liberally.) In the long run, the A7 will translate into more complex apps from developers and, ideally, better user experiences.

    Fingerprint scanning has also found its way into the 5S with Touch ID, a nifty piece of tech that's the result of the $356 million acquisition of AuthenTec last year. Touch ID is built right into the phone's home button, now surrounded by a matching metallic ring. Setting it up so the scanner recognizes your fingerprint is a one-time deal that takes two minutes, but it's actually a pretty entertaining process. And for what it's worth, Touch ID also appears pretty secure, too: at least 10 people I approached couldn't get into my phone because Touch ID didn't recognize their prints. With enough time, the right tools, and money, it's of course possible to hack, but it's not easy. ("It's your phone -- we're not launching missiles here," Bruce Schneier, a security technologist, told Fortune. "We're looking for a little bit of security, and I think Touch ID is a really great idea for that.") 

    上周五，我和一个朋友在旧金山一家常去的附近餐馆等点心时，我掏出了从苹果公司（Apple）借来的金色版iPhone 5S。我拿着它晃来晃去，就像一个刚订婚的人炫耀无名指上的戒指一样想引人注意。可这一招不管用，于是我只好提高嗓门，跟朋友秀秀这部手机的指纹扫描仪是怎么用的。

    就在这时，我们边上的一对情侣看见这情景来了兴致。他们盯着手机，然后一脸痛苦和妒忌地走到我身边。那女子嘟哝道：“今天早上我们在埃默里威尔那家店足足等了三个小时，”她是一心想和男朋友一起买一部金色版5S的，最后却发现：苹果店里这款手机根本就没有几台。

    结果，整个这顿饭期间，这一对就一直看着我们放在桌上的5S，对这台似乎和金子一样贵重的手机流露出无限向往。他们想要这台手机的原因当然纯属个人偏好，但不可否认的是，iPhone诞生六年来，它已经变成无数人梦寐以求的身份象征了：那些能买到新款的人在开始几星期里就能引领潮流，对那些必须等上几周、甚至几个月才能买到自己心仪手机的人而言，他们就是令人艳羡的对象。

    现在忠实的果粉们已经知道，如果新款iPhone的名字后加了S，那就意味着它和去年的老款样子相去无几。iPhone 5S也遵循着这个惯例，但它的问世过程确实平添了许多新的波折，以确保苹果所谓的“惊人的需求量”（十月份它就已经延迟交货了）。作为新加入银灰色iPhone 5S阵营的机型，金色版淡香槟金的色调足以提醒身边那些眼神够好的人：这位机主拿的正是苹果的最新款手机。除此之外，不管是4英寸的Retina屏幕还是双色玻璃，以及铝合金背壳，5S看起来都和去年那款轻盈修长的5几乎别无二致。就连重量也还是3.95盎司。

    不过手机内部却有大量的新变化。苹果在本月初举行的产品发布会上展示了全新的A7处理器，使iPhone 5成为第一款运行64位架构的智能手机之一。苹果称A7的处理速度是上一代的两倍，此外它还能同时处理更多数据。现在，这主要意味着在全新的iOS 7中，应用打开的速度更快，动画效果更平滑——这两点一开机就能感受到。iOS 7是对原来操作系统一次脱胎换骨的升级，它摒弃了以前那种拟物化的图标，代之以更简洁、更扁平化的外观（软件团队显然觉得这种剧变和动画效果乐趣多多：应用、屏幕和信息载入、缩放和挪移都更随心所欲了）。长期来看，A7将让开发者推出更复杂的应用，也会带来更好的用户体验。

    凭借Touch ID，5S也终于拥有了指纹识别的功能。这项时髦的技术是苹果去年斥资3.56亿美元收购AuthenTec公司的成果。Touch ID被嵌入了手机的home键，这个键现在被一个相配的金属环圈了起来。设置指纹扫描仪让它认出指纹需要花两分钟，但一次就能搞掂，同时也是个很有意思的过程。至于这项技术价值如何，Touch ID也证明了它是相当安全的：至少我接触的10个人无法打开我的手机，因为Touch ID认不出他们的指纹。当然，如果时间足够，有合适的工具和足够的钱，它也可能被破解，但这并不容易【安全技术专家布鲁斯•施奈尔对《财富》杂志（Fortune）表示：“这不过是你的手机而已——又不是要发射导弹。我们需要的只是有限的安全度，而我觉得Touch ID安全性足够了。”】  

    As for the camera, Apple has slightly improved that, too. It's still 8 megapixels, but the company says the slightly larger sensor and aperture should make for better-looking low-light shots. I didn't notice a major improvement on that front, but I saw somewhat more detail in stills. When I used the 5S's new two-tone flash -- two LEDs instead of one -- the results were more dramatic: Skin appeared more natural, colors more accurate. That a flash was used is obvious, but the results were less "washed out."

    For iPhone 4 and 4S owners, upgrading to the 5S will seem like a huge improvement given that iOS7 on the new model is a smooth experience. For them, upgrading is a no-brainer. iPhone 5 users, however, can afford to wait until 2014. The 5S doesn't currently offer a huge improvement in performance that users can feel, but that will likely change as iOS7 evolves and developers update their software to take advantage of that A7 chip.

    Starting at $99 in five bright, candy-colored shades and six equally vibrant silicone cases, Apple's goal with the iPhone 5C seems obvious: retain its reputation as an arbiter of luxe gadgets yet appeal to the younger set and markets with generally smaller disposable incomes.

    Unlike its high-brow glass and aluminum sibling, the 5C is "unapologetically plastic." Put simply, it's an iPhone 5 with a plastic black. And while I don't personally care for most of the color options Apple opted for, the 5C is a pleasure in hand. Curved at the edges, the smooth, lacquered plastic is more ergonomic than the harder edges of the 5S. A steel-reinforced frame also means it feels extremely solid -- there's no flexing of materials anywhere on the device, no matter how hard you grip. Likewise, the firm plastic buttons all click satisfyingly. In other words, plastic the 5C may be, but it doesn't feel cheap.

    Still, it does feel decidedly less premium, not just because of the plastic but because it also shares just about all of the same features with last year's model, from the A6 processor to the 8 megapixel camera. Where the 5C edges out its older sibling is in its slightly better front-facing camera and longer-lasting battery. The latter should net users another one to two hours of talk time, or roughly the same as what I saw on the 5S.

    Apps don't quite zip like they do on Apple's flagship smartphone, but the 5C generally runs iOS7 well. The biggest difference may be with games like Infinity Blade III, which takes advantage of the 5S's processor. On the 5C, the game runs well enough, but on the 5S, the action is smoother and things look sharper.

    The iPhone 5C is a perfectly capable device -- it's just not a new one. This is likely why in the U.S., the 5S is backordered while the 5C remains easy-to-find. Apple has the right idea in catering to two different markets. But even so, the year of the iPhone 5S still feels like an interim period of incremental upgrades. Next year, with the iPhone 6, presumably with an all-new design, Apple's new dichotomy of high-end vs. "budget" should become much more interesting.

    至于相机，苹果也有所改进。它还是800万像素，但苹果称更大的处理器和光圈能在光线昏暗的环境中拍出更出色的照片。这方面我并没发现有很大提升，但在细节上确实更丰富了。当我用5S的双色闪光灯——带有两个LED而非一个——拍照时，效果确实更出色了：肤色更自然，色彩还原也更准确。闪光灯确实打开了，不过照片却不那么“显旧”了。

    至于iPhone 4和4S的机主，由于新机型上iOS 7所带来的流畅体验，升级到5S会感到明显的提升。对他们来说，入手新机是明摆着的事。但iPhone 5的机主则可以等到2014年再说，因为5S不会让他们感到性能有大幅升级。不过随着iOS 7不断完善，开发者利用A7芯片升级软件后，这种情况就会有所改观。

    为iPhone 5C推出售价为99美元的五款明艳的糖果色彩壳和六款同样色彩鲜艳的硅胶套，苹果的目标似乎很清楚：一方面维持豪华手机品牌的地位，另一方面也要吸引那些可支配收入比较有限的年轻消费者及市场。

    跟自己那穿着高档玻璃和铝合金外衣的兄弟相比，5C就是“不依不饶地走塑料路线”。简言之，这就是塑料背壳的iPhone 5。尽管我自己不怎么喜欢苹果选的这些颜色，但5C握在手中的感觉还是很舒服的。这些边角有一定弧度，光滑喷漆的塑料外壳要比5S硬邦邦的边角更符合人体工学。而用钢材强化的塑料框架也意味着它非常坚实——不管你怎么用劲，这台手机的材料都绝不会弯折。同样地，坚实的塑料按键按起来也令人满意。换言之，5C可能确实塑料感很强，但却绝不让人觉得廉价。

    不过，它还是让人觉得不那么高端。不仅是因为它的塑料用材，还因为它和去年那款手机在配置上几乎完全一样。它还是A6的处理器，还是那颗800万像素的镜头。让5C比老款要显得好些的地方在于，它的前置摄像头要稍微好点，电池续航时间也更长了。这个电池能让用户的通话时间增加一到两个小时，跟5S差不多。

    5C的应用不像5S那样做了大幅升级，但它毕竟也用上了iOS 7。这两者之间的最大差别在运行《无尽之剑3》（Infinity Blade III）这样的游戏时表现得最明显，这款游戏靠5S的处理器才能跑得酣畅淋漓。在5C上它运行得也不错，但在5S上动作更流畅，视觉效果也更锐利。

    5C是一部性能出色的手机——只不过它算不上“全新款”而已。这可能就是为什么5S在美国缺货，而5C还是很容易买到的原因。苹果要迎合两种完全不同的市场需求，这宗想法没错。但就算是这样，“5S年”还是让人觉得只是小修小补的过渡期而已。而明年，随着可能将采用全新设计的iPhone 6的问世，苹果新推出的高端、“实惠”两手抓的市场两分法应该会变得有意思得多。（财富中文网）

    译者：清远