Yes, Two New iPhones Are Coming, But Will They Have Too Few Differences?

As Apple 's new iPhone launch approaches, more leaked parts continue to emerge. And what they suggest is that while Apple is planning on heavily differentiating between the flagship iPhone 5S and the lower-priced 5c, the two will share a lot in common internally. Until the final products are in the hands of the people who make it their business to rip them apart, some uncertainty remains, but from the main logic boards that have been obtained thus far, the two phones are more alike than different.

Processors: Of course, that doesn't mean entirely alike. The 5c, which seems certain to replace the iPhone 5 in the lineup, will probably sport this year's A6 processor while the 5S is going to get a faster A7 processor, rumored to be 30% faster. While the latter might also be more battery efficient, Apple has been known to improve earlier generations of its chips and there happens to be a positive relationship between making chips cheaper and smaller while also making them more power efficient. So it could be that both models will see improved battery performance.

Cameras: The 5S will be getting a much-improved camera, with a better sensor while the 5c likely gets a carry over from the iPhone 5, or possibly even a part with slightly inferior specs. The cheaper 5c also won't get the upgraded dual flash the 5S is getting nor the "faster" lens, which will help you take better pictures in low light.

Storage: Don't be surprised to see the 5c offered with less maximum storage and also fewer choices in how much storage you can get. Today's iPhone 5 comes in 16, 32 and 64GB configurations. The 5S is expected to add a 128GB model to the mix. It's quite possible the 5c will be offered in no more than 16 and 32GB, possibly even only the former. And, no, Apple won't be allowing you to add memory cards to expand storage.

Fingerprint sensor: This security measure, which will allow you to unlock your phone by placing a finger on the home button and having it read your fingerprint, will be unique to the 5S. Period. May it kill the password forever.

Price: A major wildcard. For the past couple of years, Apple has wound up with retail pricing in the U.S. of $0, $99, and $199 for the base models of 3 year's worth of phones. The cheapest, of course, was the two-year-old model, currently the iPhone 4. Once the 5c comes out, carriers are likely to pay less for it than they currently pay for the iPhone 4. Logically, it should be $0 on contract. But if the market will bear $99 for an iPhone 5 encased in colorful plastic, what becomes the $0 iPhone?

Apple could carry over the 4s in that role, but it seems likely to be discontinued along with the iPhone 4 for two reasons (1) it has the old 30-pin dock connector that Apple wants to get rid of in favor of the smaller Lightning connector (2) it has the smaller 960 x 640 screen resolution instead of the 1136 x 640 of the iPhone 5. Apple wants developers to standardize on the taller/wider, 16:9 format screen so carrying over the old 3:2 screen seems unlikely. If the iPhone 5c is indeed the $0 iPhone, it seems impossible to envision a $99 model -- at least until Apple releases a larger screen phone, at which point the 4-inch 5S could be offered at $99, while a 4.7-inch model could become $199, for example.

Plastic vs. metal: The most obvious point of differentiation -- and the one that's been getting the most attention -- has been that the 5c will come in a plastic outer shell, as the early iPhones did, while the 5S will retail the metal casing Apple has used for the iPhone 4, 4S and 5. Uncertainty about exactly how many choices the 5S will offer of colors seems to be centered around 3 or 4 (white, gold/champagne, and at least one black), but the 5c seems certain to be offered in 5 colors (red, yellow, green, blue and white, as seen above). Incidentally, it's because of that larger color palette that the choice of storage might not exist. The proliferation of SKUs makes it challenging to offer too many different choices and keep them all in stock.

That last point brings up an interesting issue. Apple actually made three models of iPhone 5, each with a slightly different set of frequencies to support different carrier requirements for the 4G LTE networks around the world. In the U.S., we tend to think of each carrier having its own model, but truthfully a Sprint and Verizon iPhone were the same internals, just configured differently. An AT&T phone actually differed from those others because it didn't need to support the CDMA standard they used and AT&T's 4G is on a somewhat uncommon set of frequencies. For that reason, AT&T's phone also was different from the one most European carriers sold.

Fortunately for Apple (and incidentally for Samsung, HTC , et al.) the chipsets that power the phones get more flexible all the time, making it more possible to build fewer unique models to support more carriers. Google 's Nexus 7 tablet, for example, is designed to support all the U.S. 4G networks with a single model. While the direct impact on consumers is small, the importance on margins for the manufacturer is potentially significant, so this will be worth following closely once the new iPhone launches.

Follow me on Twitter. Find the rest of my Forbes posts here.