For the first time, the iPhone is growing even as it slims down.
After sticking for five years to the same screen size, Apple has revealed a new phone that is taller, with a bigger display.
The iPhone 5 will go on sale in the US and eight other countries next Friday, September 21. Even though it is taller than the iPhone 4S, it is lighter, thanks to a new screen technology that makes the whole phone thinner.
The bigger 4 inch screen creates room for another row of icons on the screen and lets widescreen movies fit better.
The calendar will now show five days at a time instead of just three. Previous iPhone models carried 3.5-inch screens.
In another big change, the iPhone 5 will come with the capability to connect to the fastest new wireless data networks in the US and overseas.
The new device also carries another distinction as it is the first iPhone developed and unveiled since the death of Apple founder Steve Jobs.
The iPhone that Jobs had conceived ushered in what he billed as "the post-PC era" - a shift that is causing people to rely less on personal computers and more on mobile gadgets they can hold in their hand. Jobs died last October, the day after Apple introduced the iPhone 4S, which was the fifth version of Apple's phone.
There was little surprise in yesterday's announcement. Despite the pains the company takes to hide its plans, the rough launch date, the new screen and the capability to connect to so-called LTE networks had been reported for months by blogs and analysts.
That is in contrast to last year, when Apple watchers were first surprised by a delay in the launch, and then by the fact that the phone that was revealed was the iPhone 4S rather than a more radical update.
The 4S, nevertheless, has been a smash success. During the first nine months that the iPhone 4S was on the market, Apple's revenue from iPhones has exceeded $63 billion, helping to establish Apple as the world's most valuable company ever.
One thing that did surprise analysts this year was the fact Apple is launching the phone in so many countries so quickly. On Day One, the phone will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK, besides the US. A week later, it will go on sale in 22 more countries, including Italy, Poland and Spain.
Another surprise about the iPhone 5 is that it is 18% thinner than its predecessor. The company was expected to use the space freed up by the new screen technology to expand the phone's battery, not make the phone thinner.
Apple followed its usual script for the new iPhone's coming-out party. Apple chief executive Tim Cook, Jobs' hand-picked successor, kicked off the festivities before an audience of reporters, bloggers, applications developers and special guests with a summary of the company's milestones.
He then handed things over to his top lieutenants, a group led by marketing chief Philip Schiller and mobile software executive Scott Forstall. With Jobs gone, the Apple executives left the showmanship to the rock band Foo Fighters, who closed out the two-hour presentation with three songs, including one called "My Hero" dedicated to the company's employees for developing products like the iPhone 5.
If the iPhone 5 lives up to the lofty expectations, it will be the company's hottest selling - and most lucrative device yet. But it will face stiff competition from an array of smartphones running on software made by rivals Google and Microsoft as well as tablet computers that also cater to consumers' desire for a more convenient way to stay connected to the Web.
Apple has dominated the tablet market by selling more than 84 million iPads since they came out in April 2010, but it is facing a challenge from Amazon.com and Google. Both those companies are peddling less expensive tablets with slightly smaller screens than the iPad, a threat that many analysts expect Apple to answer next month by rolling out a mini-iPad.
The bigger screen in the iPhone 5 moves Apple somewhat closer to competing smartphones, but the iPhone is still small compared with its main rivals. Samsung Electronics, Apple's biggest competitor, has increased the screen size of its flagship phone line every year, and it is now 4.8 inches on the diagonal, about 45% larger than the one on the new iPhone. The new iPhone is lighter than Samsung's new Galaxy S III.
With the new model, Apple is ditching the connection port it has used for iPods, iPhones and iPads for nearly a decade in favour of a smaller, narrower one. That means Apple is still the holdout in an industry where other manufacturers have settled on a standard connector for charging and computer backups.
There will be adapters available so that the new phone will be able to connect to sound docks and other accessories designed for the old phones.
The camera on the back of the iPhone 5 has the same resolution as the one on the iPhone 4S, but takes pictures faster and works better in low light, Apple said.
