On the 10th, Apple announced the upcoming release of its new iPhone 5s, as planned, and we’re stoked on the new features. Apple says the 5s is "the most forward-thinking phone” they've ever created. It’s true; the iPhone 5s is sleek, sexy, and full of advanced features and functionality.

 

Here’s a quick rundown of features:

• Contains a 64-bit A7 chip

• Camera has a new Apple-designed lens with an f/2.2 aperture

• Camera has slow motion capabilities and True Tone flash

• Has a fingerprint sensor known as Touch ID

• Has a motion co-processor dubbed the M7 that measures motion data

• Has a longer battery life

• Available in gold, silver, or space gray

• Available on Sept. 20th in 16GB for US$199, 32GB for $299, and 64GB for $399

Here at Grove, we’re pretty giddy about all the features, but the Touch ID feature, amazing new camera, and 64-bit A7 chip have been the focus of conversation. The touch ID sensor is located inside the home button and is made from a laser cut sapphire crystal! Read more about that from Apple’s press release:

“Built into the home button, Touch ID uses a laser cut sapphire crystal, together with the capacitive touch sensor, to take a high-resolution image of your fingerprint and intelligently analyze it to provide accurate readings from any angle. Setting up Touch ID to recognize your fingerprint is easy, and every time you use it, it gets better. The Touch ID sensor recognizes the touch of a finger so the sensor is only activated when needed, preserving battery life. All fingerprint information is encrypted and stored securely in the Secure Enclave inside the A7 chip on the iPhone 5s; it’s never stored on Apple servers or backed up to iCloud. Touch ID can also be used as a secure way to approve purchases from the iTunes Store®, App Store or iBooks Store.”

For photography buffs, the rear camera on the new 5s features a 5-element lens with an f/2.2 aperture and sensor 15% bigger than the current one. A special duel-LED flash, True Tone, adapts to existing light providing better color. In addition, the camera will be able to capture 10 pictures per second and automatically choose the best one, and the 720p video will be able to capture slow motion video at 120 frames per second. Watch Apple’s 5s camera video below:

 

 

 

The new iPhone 5s is certainly a well-oiled piece of hardware, with its 64-bit A7 chip running 40-times faster than the original iPhone. All in all, the 5s should be able to operate twice as fast as the previous model.

This phone is a stunner too. The flashy gold, silver, or space gray will be hard to cover up with a Grove case (but not too hard!). Maybe a Grove case is the only case worthy of covering such a beautiful piece of technology? Check out our new iPhone cases to see what I mean. And, read more about the iPhone 5s, available to purchase on Apple.com on Sept. 20, on MacRumors and TUAW.