Apple has this morning introduced the company's new budget smartphone, labelled as "the most colourful iPhone yet."

Available in blue, green, pink, yellow and white, the low-end device carries 16GB of memory, costing NZ$122 with a US carrier contract.

“iPhone 5C is everything iPhone 5 was and more, in an all-new design packed with great features,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

“iPhone 5C is designed with a beautiful polycarbonate enclosure that looks and feels so solid in your hand.”

The Cupertino giant says the iPhone 5C is built on a foundation of features people know such as the 4-inch Retina display, fast performance of the A6 chip, and the 8 megapixel iSight camera—as well as iOS 7, the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone.

"The business has become so large that this year we are going to replace the iPhone 5 and we are going to replace it with two new designs,'' says Tim Cook, CEO, Apple.

Pricing & Availability

iPhone 5C comes in blue, green, pink, yellow and white and will be available in the US for a suggested retail price of $99 (US) for the 16GB model and $199 (US) for the 32GB model.

iPhone 5C will be available from the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores, and through AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and select Apple Authorized Resellers.

iPhone 5C will be available in the US, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK on Friday, September 20, and customers can pre-order their iPhone 5c beginning Friday, September 13.