Initial demand for the iPhone 5 exceeded the supply available at launch on September 21, 2012, and was described by Apple as "extraordinary", with pre-orders having sold twenty times faster than its predecessors.

While reception to the iPhone 5 was generally positive, consumers and reviewers noted hardware issues, such as an unintended purple hue in photos taken, and the phone's coating being prone to chipping.

It was replaced as a midrange and then an entry-level device by the iPhone 5c; the 5c internal hardware specifications are almost identical to the 5 albeit having a less expensive polycarbonate exterior shell.

[17] Initial demand for the new phone exceeded the record set by its predecessor, the iPhone 4s, by selling over 5 million units in the first three days.

[21] While the 5c shared almost the same internal hardware as the iPhone 5, the 5c used a lower-cost polycarbonate plastic case in place of the original 5's aluminum form.

[21] On April 28, 2014, Apple initiated an out of warranty recall program to replace any failing power buttons of iPhone 5 models which were manufactured prior to March 2013 at no cost.

The report stated training was inadequate for quality demands expected and led to employees producing products that did not meet standards.

[31] Foxconn spokesmen admitted that a micromanagement problem exists, but also said that there were only 300 to 400 workers absent and the conflicts did not influence production processes.

[32] In November 2012 Foxconn chairman Terry Gou reported that the delay in production was due to undisclosed difficulties in assembly.

[37] The phone can act as a hotspot, sharing its internet connection over WiFi, Bluetooth, or USB,[38] and also accesses the App Store, an online application distribution platform for iOS developed and maintained by Apple.

The service allows users to browse and download applications from the iTunes Store that were developed with Xcode and the iOS SDK and were published through Apple.

The software was improved in iOS 6 to include the ability to make restaurant reservations, launch apps, dictate Facebook or Twitter updates, retrieve movie reviews and detailed sports statistics.

Entered text is supported by predictive and suggestion software; there is a multi-language spell-checker which recognizes many regional accents of different languages.

[40][43] iOS 6 is able to retrieve documents such as boarding passes, admission tickets, coupons and loyalty cards through its new Passbook app.

The result was however inconsistent as a 3D graphics benchmark assessment using Passmark returned a score that was only approximately 1.45 times better than the iPhone 4s.

[69] On April 28, 2014, Apple initiated an out of warranty recall program to replace any failing power buttons of iPhone 5 models which were manufactured prior to March 2013 at no cost.

[75] According to technology commentators, the redesign of the earphones is aimed to improve sound quality by allowing air to travel in and out more freely.

[92] In November 2012, a representative of Swisscom reported that the iPhone 5 only supports LTE on networks that have been tested and certified by Apple.

"[96] David Pogue of The New York Times considered the 4-inch Retina display a "nice but not life-changing change", and praised the Lightning connector for its size, sturdiness, and reversibility, while noting its lack of support for older accessories, remarking that "Apple has a long history of killing off technologies, inconveniently and expensively, that the public had come to love".

[97] Technology columnist Ed Baig of USA Today was impressed that Apple had met the public's "lofty expectations" for the iPhone 5 in a competitive market.

It had been reported to contain errors such as misplacement of landmark tags, directing users to incorrect locations and poor satellite images.

[105] Gizmodo editor Diaz discussed the correspondence between Apple and a reader about purple flare in pictures taken on iPhone 5 camera.

Apple's response to the issue was that it is normal and advised the customer to aim the camera away from bright light sources when taking photos.

[107] Consumer Reports found that the purple haze effect occurred on several other manufacturers' phones including the Samsung Galaxy S III and Motorola Droid Razr Maxx, and that it was not less pronounced on the iPhone 4s.

The report concluded that digital cameras in general, including higher-end SLRs, can all suffer from lens flare in which a purple-tinted effect was not uncommon.

[108] There were anecdotal claims of the coating of primarily black iPhone 5s chipping off, exposing the bright aluminium underneath.

Apple executive's response to email correspondence from an affected customer summarized that it was normal for aluminum to scratch.

[109][110] The term "scuffgate", a reference to "antennagate" which affected the iPhone 4, was applied by various sources such as CNET, Yahoo News, and All Things Digital to describe the scuffing issue.

[111][112] Some users reported on the Internet that the white model leaked light behind the screen, though the issue was not unique to the iPhone 5, as it also affected other Apple devices.

"[120] Shortly after the announcement of the iPhone 5 and preceding the launch, Apple's stock price rose to a record $705.07,[121] but within three months fell to $507.48.