Inside the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C

Analysts have noted Apple’s comments on the importance of new services in its plans and an integrated fingerprint sensor capability in a mobile phone could prove the key enabler – literally opening the door to a new class of authentication-based apps and services – likely leveraging Apple’s move into automotive markets that Apple CEO Tim Cook sees as “very, very important“.

An iPhone fingerprint authentication feature could nicely complement the emergence of iOS7 in automobiles, replacing expensive “smart key” fobs with a more secure biometric-based multi-factor authentication.
More secure authentication could also complement the possible appearance of NFC functionality in the iPhone 5S (Figure 5). Although Apple has traditionally shown little enthusiasm for NFC, its use has been noted in a US patent application as the link for exchanged gifted DRM content between users using an NFC feature that “…may exist as a separate component, may be integrated into another chipset, or may be integrated into the NFC device … itself, for example, as part of a system-on-chip (SoC) circuit,” according to the patent application.
From the patent:
The device 10 may further include one or more communication interfaces, illustrated in FIG. 3 by reference numeral 60, for providing additional connectivity channels for receiving and transmitting information. For example, communication interface 60 may represent one or more network interface cards (NIC) and/or a network controller as well as various associated communication protocols. The communication interface 60 may include several types of communication interfaces, including but not limited to, a wireless local area network (WLAN) interface 62, an NFC interface 64, an unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) interface 66, a personal area network (PAN) interface 68, a local area network (LAN) interface 70, a wide area network (WAN) interface 72, and a short message service (SMS) interface 74.
Case materials and colors
To all outward appearances, the new models will likely resemble the iPhone 5 – except in the case materials and color options. Apple may reveal the fruits of its investments in Liquidmetal Technologies with the appearance of Liquidmetal’s metallic glass alloys in the 5S case. Liquidmetal’s unique characteristics for shaping, strength and flexibility make it well suited for mobile device cases. Leaked images suggest the use of Liquidmetal in 5S case components including SIM trays (Figure 6).
 
For more detail: Inside the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C