Full of Apple's Juice?

I, like every Apple fan, eagerly await September 10, when (allegedly), the new iPhone--or iPhones--will be released. Each Apple keynote is an opportunity to revel in the future, and for the company to vaguely make me feel bad that each and every bit of my tech isn't brand new. It's the ultimate "I love you, honey, but you're looking fat" moment, brought about three times a year.

But what I'm particularly looking for is how the supposed iPhone 5C will be released. When I got my first iPhone, a 3GS, it was the $100 alternative. Money was a little tight and my wife nonetheless got it for our wedding anniversary. Flash forward to a few years later, and we've become an Apple house: her iPhone 4, MacBook Air, my iPhone 4S, Mac mini and iPad 1, our Apple TV... not to mention our forays into iTunes purchases, iCloud storage, and my excitement over having iWork in the Cloud as a beta.

But what about this 5C? The other (non-Apple) addition to our family is our daughter, who is now two and a half. She's grown up with iDevices, learning how to turn on the iPad's "picture frame" option from the lock screen shortly after turning 1. Now she's a whiz: she can unlock a device, fine the photos app, Netflix, BrainPOP, Elmo... along with occasionally (and frighteningly (for me)) pressing that white folded paper button--the one with clouds in the background (email).

However, she occasionally drops these devices too.

Will the 5C, with it's plastic cover, be attractive to me? Granted, the 5 eschewed the glass excess brought about by the 4/4S... but with a toddler around, I'd like something with a little more bounce.

Conversely, I also want something with more storage space--will Apple box me out by making the 5C have smaller hard drives? Surely it won't be Siri-less--despite the electronic gal being imperfect, she does make texting-while-driving a breeze. Further, I find I need less and less processor oomph in my phone--after all, I can do a ton of computing at home, and the iWork apps are better suited for my aging--yet perfectly adequate--iPad.

I know part of what Apple prides itself on is "the Apple ecosystem." There is a bit of a flip side,
though: after having spent the last 3 or 4 years buying thousands of dollars of Apple tech... it's all made so darned well that replacing any of it is more of a "feel good" or status buy than an actual (perceived) need.

Hence my interest in the iPhone 5C: when I eventually feel the need to replace my 4S, does it need to be with the best of the best? Do I need a sapphire fingerprint sensor and an improved processor... or just

an iPhone that's a bit better for the one I have, to cover needs I already have (email, text, web, camera, music, podcasts)?

I'll know more on September 10.