Stiftung Warentest: iPhone 5S and 5C in the cell phone test

In the November 2013 issue of Stiftung Warentest, the new iPhone 5 (or 5S and 5C) competes against more than 150 smartphones. The Apple products do a good job in the check - in the end, however, cell phones from other manufacturers made it onto the podium. We present the test highlights and compare them with the positions in the CHIP leaderboard.

Stiftung Warentest: The new iPhone models are really that good

New in the November test: iPhone 5S and 5C. The product test experts checked the models for internet, camera, phone calls, battery life and music. The foundation is only moderately enthusiastic about Apple's new products:

• The iPhone 5 and 5S make it to fourth place (grade 2.0). Internet, e-mail and backup were rated as particularly good here.
• The slightly cheaper iPhone 5C follows in 5th place and performs slightly worse in almost every category than the other two iPhone 5 variants.
• However, Apple has to share places 4 and 5 with 19 other smartphone models.

The 3 most important facts: New iPhone 5C worse than iPhone 4

1. In the Stiftung Warentest test, all iPhone 5 models do not go beyond "satisfactory" in terms of battery performance. In comparison: the predecessor iPhone 4 achieved a "good" (2, 3).
2. On the other hand, the camera of the iPhone 5 is top: the product testers rated it as the best of all smartphones.
3. Overall, the iPhone 5, 5S and iPhone 4 are on par. Only the iPhone 5C is rated worse. The reasons for this are the lack of stability of the (plastic) housing and the poorer photo camera.

Samsung convinces with Galaxy S4 in the check by Stiftung Warentest

Apple's new iPhone 5S and 5C had to give way to the battle for the three places in the product test check Samsung and Motorola:

• The test winner in the smartphone test is the Samsung Galaxy S4 (rating 1.7), which particularly impresses the product test experts when it comes to surfing, emailing and making phone calls, as well as handling.
• The previous model, Galaxy Note 2, is at least in third place at Stiftung Warentest. It even outperforms the test winner in terms of battery life and "internet".
• The second place at test.de is the Motorola smartphone Razr Maxx, which misses the victory because of its mediocre camera.

CHIP product comparison: The iPhone models in a direct duel

In order to better classify the goods test check, here is the comparison with the results of the CHIP product comparison:

• The iPhone 5S beats the 5C in particular thanks to better camera and processing.
• However, around 5 euros more are currently due for the 5S.
• The two Apple phones currently rank 10th and 35th in the CHIP leaderboard.

iPhone 5 at Stiftung Warentest: The conclusion

The product test results clearly show that Apple's iPhone 5S and 5C cannot compete with Samsung.

• The Galaxy S4 took first place in the product test check, six other Samsung phones received a "good" or better (the complete overview can be found at www.test.de).
• The new iPhone models from Apple made it into the top ten places at Stiftung Warentest, but they have to share them with some of their competitors - at least from a technical point of view, Apple is only "underperformed".