How good is the iPhone 5s camera? Good enough for National Geographic. And Apple’s own Phil Schiller is getting braggy about it on Twitter.

What’s the best selling smartphone in America right now? Duh. It’s the iPhone 5s. And the iPhone 5c? Either second place or third place at every carrier.

Most of us still don’t have an iPhone 5s, and that’s quadruply true of the hard-to-get gold model, leading to a perception of extremely limited demand. But how accurate is that perception? Not very, according to new channel supply tracking data from Piper-Jaffray. In fact, the iPhone 5s is easier to find two-and-a-half weeks after release than the iPhone 5 was.

Back when the iPhone 5 first came out, there were a surprising number of reports of people whose iPhones suddenly bent themselves. This did not seem to be an issue with accidental damage en masse: most of the people who reported the issue noted that their iPhones bent back at the volume button, and hadn’t been kept in a back pocket or sat on.

It seems with the iPhone 5s, this mysterious predilection towards bending has returned.

The iPhone 5c has barely been out for two weeks but a couple of retailers are already offering promotions on Apple’s plastic handset in hopes of getting more foot-traffic into to stores. RadioShack informed us that it will start offering the iPhone 5c for $50 starting Saturday, October 5th, matching Best Buy’s offer that was announced yesterday.

RadioShack’s discount isn’t a true price cut, but the store is giving customers a $50 gift card to use toward the price of their purchase to knock it down to 50 bucks. It’s similar to Best Buy’s iPhone 5c deal, except Best Buy’s $50 gift card can only be applied to future purchases. Like Best Buy, RadioShack’s offer is only valid when signing up for a new two-year contract, but if you want to drop the price even lower you can use RadioShack’s Trade & Save program and apply the value of your old smartphone to your new 5c.

Update: Not one to be outdone, Walmart just decided to drop the price on the iPhone 5c to $45 from now throughout the holidays.

This is Cult of Mac’s exclusive column written by an actual Apple retail store genius. Our genius must remain anonymous, but other than “Who are you, anyway?” ask anything you want about what goes on behind that slick store facade.  

Answers will be published first in Cult of Mac’s Magazine on Newsstand. Send your questions to newsATcultofmac.com with “genius” in the subject line.

Gold iPhone 5s units have been in low supply, but our Genius dishes tips on how to swap a space gray 5s for gold one, along with what it’s like to work at the Apple Store and how to get iLife for iOS free, even if you haven’t bought a new iDevice in years. 

This article first appeared in Cult of Mac Magazine.

Looking for a crop of holiday deals to popup before making your decision on the iPhone 5c? Well the iPhone 5c has only been on the market for two weeks but Best Buy is already offering a deal on Apple’s plastic beauty.

Customers can get the iPhone 5c for $50 from your local Best Buy store from now until Sunday. The price drop isn’t a true price cut though as Best Buy is offering a free $50 giftcards that can be applied to drop the price from $99 – the deal is also available for the Samsung Galaxy S4 if you’re interested in a $150 Android handset. Not necessarily the greatest deal ever, but it’s certainly one of the best we’ve seen for the iPhone 5c during its short life thus far.

Source: Best Buy

Reports of inaccurate motion sensors in the iPhone 5s continue to grow. As reported last week on Cult of Mac, there appear to be widespread problems with the 5s’ compass, gyroscope and accelerometer.

The original forum thread at MacRumors is now at a whopping 19 pages of user reports, and Apple has yet to respond to Cult of Mac’s repeated requests for information.

This morning, Gizmodo conducted its own tests and found the iPhone 5s motion sensors to be “totally screwed up.”

Looks like the problem is far more widespread than the naysayers on our original post, and on the MacRumors thread, are willing to admit.

Finding a gold iPhone 5s at your local Apple Store is no easy task even though it’s been on shelves more than a week now. Rather than calling every single Apple Store, Best Buy, Walmart, and carrier store in your area, our friend Mordy created the awesome iPhone Check web app that tells you if local stores have any gold units in stock.

The simple web app scrapes data from store.apple.com for the most up-to-date info on local pick-up options. Use the drop downs to select the color and carrier you want, press submit and viola! A chart of green and red squares indicate whether a store has stock of 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB units in the color of your choice.

Source: iPhoneCheck

The new iPhones have arrived and there’s no time like the present to ensure that you protect your new device from wear and tear. Cult of Mac Deals has a great offer lined up for those who’ve picked up an iPhone 5S (or  have an iPhone 5) so that they can protect from even the worst of scenarios.

Spigen has been developing some top-notch products (check out a review of one of its screen protectors here) and for a limited time we’ve got the latest offering from the company: The iPhone 5S Tough Armor Bundle – featuring the Tough Armor case & popular all glass screen protector (GLAS.t). And, we’ve got it for 50% off the regular price – just $36.99.