Your new, colorful (and cheaper) iPhone 5C awaits, if you are interested in pre-ordering the new Apple smartphone. Beginning at 12:01 a.m. PST, Apple began taking pre-orders for the iPhone 5C on its website, but you can also go out to Best Buy or Walmart to secure your new candy-colored iPhone now.
The actual release date for the iPhone 5C is a week away; both the iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S are launching Friday, Sept. 20. But the iPhone 5S is not available for pre-order, so if you're just itching for the chance to know you have one of the latest iPhones, pre-ordering the iPhone 5C is the way to go.
If you want a deal, go to Walmart. The retail giant is discounting the iPhone 5C by 20 percent, which means you can get a 16GB iPhone 5C for $79. That price, along with all deals on the iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S, are under a two-year contract with a major wireless carrier.
The iPhone 5C harkens back to the late 90s, when the Apple iMac hit the otherwise beige and black U.S. computer market with an aquamarine bubble of a personal computer, later adding more "flavors" of the iMac to its lineup. The iPhone 5C comes in five colors: pink, yellow, blue, green and white.
The iPhone 5C isn't a "low-cost" iPhone, but it certainly is cheaper than the top-of-the-line model, starting at about $100 (or less, at Walmart) and only going up to about $200 for the 32GB model.
However, with the cheaper prices comes less revolutionary features. The iPhone 5C doesn't have the fingerprint scanner that the iPhone 5S features, and, while it will run the new iOS 7 software, the rest of the iPhone 5C is similar to the one year old iPhone 5.
If you want the iPhone 5S, you'll have to wait until Sept. 20, but Apple is going to start taking orders for that at the stroke of midnight PST as well, so be prepared.