Heralded as the most forward-thinking smartphone in the world at the time of its introduction, the iPhone 5s models, regardless of network compatibility, have a 4 (diagonal) widescreen multi-touch IPS LED-backlit 1136×640 native resolution (326 ppi) retina display, dual cameras — a rear 8 megapixel, 1080p iSight camera with 1.5 micron pixels, an f/2.2 aperture, a dual LED True Tone flash and more as well as a front 1.2 megapixel, 720p FaceTime camera.

The iPhone 5s is available in three metallic color options — space gray, which has a black glass front and a mostly medium toned gunmetal gray aluminum back; gold, which has a white glass front and a mostly gold colored aluminum back; and silver, which has a white glass front and a mostly silver colored aluminum back (gold color option discontinued September 9, 2015). Regardless of color, each includes a Touch ID fingerprint sensor embedded in the home button (which no longer has the traditional iPhone rounded square icon like earlier models).

This iPhone 5s model is powered by a 1.3 GHz 64-bit Apple A7 processor and has 1 GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 16 GB, 32 GB, or 64 GB of flash storage (64 GB option discontinued September 9, 2014). It also supports both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and 4G/LTE, has a bottom-mounted headphone jack and uses the Lightning connector to hook up with a Mac, PC, dock, or power adapter.

Apple estimates that the iPhone 5s models provide up to 40 hours of audio playback, 10 hours of talk time on 3G, 8 hours of Internet use on 3G, 10 hours of Internet use on 4G/LTE, 10 hours of Internet use on Wi-Fi, 10 hours of video playback and 250 hours of standby time.