Apple unveils two new iPhones, starting at $99

Craig Federighi, senior vice president of Software Engineering at Apple, speaks during the new product release in Cupertino, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013. AP PHOTO/MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ

CUPERTINO, California—Apple unveiled two new iPhones on Tuesday in its bid to expand its share of the smartphone market, including one as low as $99 with a US carrier contract.

“The business has become so large that this year we are going to replace the iPhone 5 and we are going to replace it with two new designs,” Apple chief Tim Cook announced at the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters.

The top-line iPhone 5S “is the most forward thinking phone we have ever created,” said Apple vice president Phil Schiller.

“It is the gold standard in smartphones.”

Apple also broadened its color palette, announcing the low-cost phone in blue white, pink yellow and green, and the top-line model in silver, gold and a new “space gray.”

Cook calls it “more fun and colorful” than any other iPhone. The 5C has a 4-inch (10-centimeter) Retina display and is powered by Apple’s A6 chip. It also has an 8 megapixel camera, live photo filters and a rear cover that lights up.

The iPhone 5C with 16 gigabytes of memory will sell for as low as $99 with a US carrier contract, half the cost of earlier iPhone base models. The 32 gigabyte model  will sell for $199 with a two-year wireless contract.

Analysts were keenly focused on the promise of an iPhone 5C to win over buyers in China and other developing markets where there is fierce competition from low-priced smartphones powered by Google’s Android operating system.