Apple unveils slimmer, lighter iPhone 5

Published September 12, 2012 | 1:30 pm

SAANJ NEWS

San Francisco: Apple’s highly anticipated, next-generation iPhone is finally here. Sporting a larger 4-inch screen iPhone 5 is 18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than its predecessor.

Said to be a bit more thumb-friendly, iPhone 5 with 16:9 aspect ratio was unveiled by Apple chief executive Timothy D. Cook Wednesday at the Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts in San Francisco.

“It’s an amazing time at Apple, an extraordinary time,” said Cook as he walked on stage, wearing a black button-down and blue jeans somewhat like Apple’s co-founder Steve Jobs who always wore his trademark black turtleneck and jeans.

Last quarter, Apple sold its 400 millionth iOS device. “Today, we’re taking it to the next level,” Cook said in a room brimming with journalists as Phil Schiller, Apple’s marketing chief, took the stage to expalin the new Iphone’s features.

The new machine has speedier innards, thanks to a new A6 chip designed by Apple. The chip is twice as fast in terms of CPU and graphics, he said. “Not only is it a jump forward in performance, it’s 22 percent smaller.”

The iPhone 5 has chips that support additional bands and frequencies and it’s capable of delivering up to 100 Mbps per second, Schiller said announcing the carrier partners for the new iPhone: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Telefonica, among others.

The roomier screen of the iPhone 5, which has 40 percent more colour saturation, can be used by apps makers to provide most accurate display in the industry.

The iPhone’s width is just right for navigating with one’s thumb, Schiller said, to make it easy to send text messages, swipe through pages and browse the Web.

The additional vertical space on the iPhone 5 screen will let users add a fifth, additional row of apps on the home screen – more room for Web browsing and reading, he said.

Apple now has 380 stores in 12 countries. Some 83 million customers visited Apple stores in June, roughly 1 million per day, Cook said.

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Apple reveals ‘iPhone 5′ as name for new smartphone

New York: Apple is set to unveil the next generation of its wildly popular iPhone today, an event that tech watchers say will set the course for the closely watched company. The new iPhone 5 has to be more than just another smartphone as it carries the weight of Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) future on its slim frame.

Five years after the first iPhone upended the mobile industry, analysts say Apple is looking increasingly defensive as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) and other rivals have been first to market with phones that sport bigger screens or run on faster wireless networks.

Apple will try to close that gap on Wednesday with the unveiling of the newest iPhone, which is widely expected to offer 4G wireless technology for the first time, and a 4-inch display, up from the current 3.5 inches.

At an event in Cupertino, Calif., Apple was poised to unveil the iPhone 5 to a gathering of technology journalists.

Despite the name, the phone is the sixth version of the device since the smartphone was launched .

Five years after the first iPhone upended the mobile industry, analysts say Apple is looking increasingly defensive as Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and other rivals have been first to market with phones that sport bigger screens or run on faster wireless networks.

Apple fans are probably dying to check out the specs on the expected new iPhone, but investors will be watching the stock as this product is unquestionably central to the company’s bottom line.

The new model is expected to work with fourth-generation, or 4G, cellular networks. That capability is something Samsung’s Galaxy S III and many other iPhone rivals already have. A bigger iPhone screen is also possible. The new model will likely go on sale in a week or two.

Apple Inc. also plans to update its phone software this fall and will ditch Google Inc.’s mapping service for its own, as a rivalry between the two companies intensifies.

In a related development, Google said Tuesday that it is releasing a new YouTube app for the iPhone and the iPad. The changes come amid the expiration of a five-year licensing agreement that had established YouTube as one of the built-in applications in Apple’s mobile devices.
(with agency inputs)

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