Apple iPhone 5s, 5c hits stores worldwide, drawing long lines of eager buyers - Washington Post

Customers around the world lined up Friday to pick up Apple's new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c.

Apple's new iPhone 5c is the company's answer to calls for a less expensive model; the phone is made of plastic, rather than metal and glass, reducing its cost. The iPhone 5s is the next evolution in the company's line of high-end phones and packs a better camera, faster processor and embedded fingerprint scanner in the home button.

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The Post’s Hayley Tsukayama offers the latest on the newest round of iPhone products and software.

• STORY: Apple iPhone 5s, 5c hits stores worldwide, drawing long lines of eager buyers

The new phones were introduced earlier this month. They haven't inspired quite the fervor of previous models, though they have won high marks from reviewers. Still, analysts predict that Apple could see a record sales weekend, likely topping the 5 million units it moved during the iPhone 5 opening weekend.

It was more difficult to predict how many people would show up in lines at stores around the country, but the turnout has been large. One reason could be that the iPhone 5s, the phone of choice for traditional iPhone customers, was not available for pre-sale.

Apple stores opened at 8 a.m. and are seeing big crowds. But users can also pick up phones from wireless carrier stores and select Best Buy, RadioShack,Target and Wal-Mart stores, though the retail partners are unlikely to have as much stock as carriers or Apple itself.

Local customers eager for the phone lined up at stores for wireless carriers as well as Apple stores all around the area. (If you want to submit your own update, please tweet it to @postlocal.)

Still, to get the full feeling of an Apple launch, there's no beating the atmosphere in line at the tech giant's own stores. Arlington News posted a picture of the store at The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, showing the line extending for several storefronts; a Twitter user reported that the line went "all the way down past Macy's."

My Washington Post colleague Timothy Lee counted nearly 200 people lined up at the Apple store in Georgetown.

Philip Elmer DeWitt
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