- Conclusion Get the lowdown
- Features How they compare
- Performance Real world benchmarks
- Differences Technical showdown
- Reviews Word on the street
- Competition Others to consider
- Discussion Answers and opinions
Compare with...
- LG Nexus 4
- Samsung Galaxy S III
- Samsung Galaxy S4
- HTC One
- Samsung Galaxy Note II
Rated 88% by by The Verge (Sep, 2012)LTE speeds were excellent on the device, and general performance seemed excellent — easily surpassing what I'm accustomed to on the 4S, which is no slouch (more on both of these points later).
Rated 87% by by c|net (Oct, 2011)Absolutely, the Retina Display remains stunningly beautiful (as do many Super AMOLED screens), but its size isn't always practical for in-car and hands-free use.
Conclusion Which is better for you?
Features Key features of the Apple iPhone 5 compared to the 4S
GHz1.3
iOS 6 4G
Rated 87% by by c|net (Sep, 2012)The iPhone 5 is the iPhone we've wanted since 2010, adding long-overdue upgrades like a larger screen and faster 4G LTE in a razor-sharp new design.
0.8 GHz
iOS 6 3.5G
by GSM Arena (Oct, 2011)It's touted as a world phone with a dual antenna setup capable of working under both GSM and CDMA (CDMA 800/1900 and CDMA2000 1xEV-DO).
screen size
4"
3.5"
iPhone 5 by G.-Clough--Garrett (Nov, 2012)The 4" screen was a great move by Apple, its not too big like the Note, but its not too small, like some say the iPhone 4 was.
iPhone 4S by Jaffrey-W.-Ali--Relentless-Pursuit-of-TechnologyI guess if you play a lot of games then a larger screen may be acceptable, but as a daily smartphone the iPhone 4S is extremely well designed aesthetically and in size.
screen resolution
iPhone 5 by TrustedReviews (Oct, 2012)As such it’s still an incredibly sharp display that’s superb for reading fine text and picking out tiny details in images.
iPhone 4S by GSM Arena (Oct, 2011)The things to expect of all this tech are better colors, better noise performance, more sharpness and more precise white balance.
memory
| 0 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB |
processor
iPhone 5 by G.-Clough--Garrett (Nov, 2012)I thought Apple would go all in with a quad-core, but they stuck with a Dual Core Processor, and I understand why.
iPhone 4S by GSM Arena (Oct, 2011)The iPhone 4S is blazing fast on the new dual-core CPU and graphics chip.
camera resolution
| 0 MP | 8 MP | 8 MP |
iPhone 5 by The Verge (Sep, 2012)That said, the results produced by the iPhone 5 were markedly better than most (though low-lighting did cause some noticeable noise), and depending on how slowly and smoothly you move your hand you can take shots as high as 30 megapixels.
iPhone 4S by GSM Arena (Oct, 2011)The iPhone 4S has a strong claim on being the best 8 megapixel cameraphone.
Performance Real world tests of Apple iPhone 5 vs 4S
cpu speed
iPhone 5 by TrustedReviews (Oct, 2012)Apple has upgraded the processor in the iPhone 5 but despite the A6 being an extremely fast chip its capabilities aren’t immediately obvious.
iPhone 4S by M.-Hagler (Apr, 2012)Siri is great and the camera is nice, but the differences in processor speed and screen resolution are not, while noticeable, mind blowing.
talk time
480 min
840 min
iPhone 5 by The Verge (Sep, 2012)One of the most amazing feats Apple pulled off in the thinner, lighter iPhone 5 is that the battery life is not only as good as the previous phone... it's actually better.
iPhone 4S by c|net (Oct, 2011)Despite the more powerful processor, the company claims that the smartphone will be able to provide 8 hours of talk time over 3G, 14 hours over 2G, 6 hours of browsing over 3G, 9 hours via Wi-Fi, 10 hours of video playback, and 40 hours of music playback.
Differences What are the advantages of each
Advantages compared to the iPhone 4S AT&T, Black, 16 GB
| Store much more stuff | 64 GB | vs | 16 GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4x more storage capacity; free yourself from memory cards | |||
| Is 4G | Yes | vs | No |
| Somewhat common; Supports the fastest, most reliable networks | |||
| Significantly faster processor | 1.3 GHz | vs | 0.8 GHz |
| Around 65% faster processor; run computation-intensive applications, such as photo editing, faster | |||
| Significantly lighter | 112 g | vs | 140 g |
| 20% lighter | |||
| Supports multitasking | Yes | vs | No |
| Somewhat common; Run multiple apps at once | |||
| More highly reviewed by consumers | 83.36% | vs | 77.35% |
| Around 10% more highly reviewed by consumers | |||
| Bigger screen | 4" | vs | 3.5" |
| Around 15% bigger screen | |||
| Marginally newer | Sep, 2012 | vs | Oct, 2011 |
| Release date 11 months later | |||
| Smaller | 59 x 124 x 8 mm | vs | 59 x 115 x 9 mm |
| More than 10% smaller | |||
| Thinner | 8 mm | vs | 9 mm |
| Around 20% thinner | |||
| Higher resolution screen | 1136 x 640 | vs | 960 x 640 |
| Around 20% higher resolution screen | |||
Advantages compared to the iPhone 5 64 GB
| Longer talk time | 840 min | vs | 480 min |
|---|---|---|---|
| 75% longer talk time; go days without charging | |||
Reviews Word on the street
Apple iPhone 5 | Apple iPhone 4S | ||
 |  
|
| |
|---|---|---|---|
 |  Rated by 307 users at amazon.com Rated 100% by by Ryan-B--Byrd (Feb, 2013) Rated 80% by by Jon-Benton (Jan, 2013)  Rated 100% by by Sávio-Ladeira (Feb, 2013) | Rated by 16 users at amazon.com Rated 40% by by NSH (Feb, 2012) Rated 100% by by Erik (Sep, 2012) Rated 80% by by Pizzabrick (Mar, 2012) | |
Competition What else you should consider
 | 1 | LG Nexus 4 2-way tie: OK operating system |
 | 3 | Samsung Galaxy S4 Longest battery life during active use |
 | 4 | HTC One Fastest processor |
 | 5 | Samsung Galaxy Note II Rated the best by consumers |
 | 6 | LG Optimus G 3-way tie: Supports Flash |
 | 7 | BlackBerry Z10 3-way tie: Supports Flash |
 | 8 | BlackBerry Q10 Has a keyboard |
Popular Questions
December 11, 2012
Web browsing
I am considering an upgrade to either the 4s or 5 but want some help. Is the connection speed better than the 3G I own?
Visitor
2
Answers 