After weeks of unprecedented leaked photos and extremely accurate rumors — Apple announced the brand new iPhone 5 on Wednesday — effectively extending their lead in the smartphone market.
Even though much of the pre-hype left the company little room for delivering any big surprises — the iPhone 5 evolution made a brilliant first impression with a new 4 inch retina-display screen stepped up from the original 3.7-inch display which allows for a fifth row of app icons on the home screen and better viewing for widescreen HD video.
Apple is touting iPhone 5 as “the thinnest smartphone in the world” — with a 7.6 mm anodized aluminum body that's 18-percent thinner and 20-percent lighter than iPhone 4S.
As hoped for — iPhone 5 will tap into speedy wireless 4G LTE networks in the U.S. with AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless. Apple's new A6 chip inside will be “blazing fast for launching apps, loading web pages and downloading email attachments” which means twice as fast according to the company's press release.
Joshua Topolsky, who writes for The Verge, offered up his first impressions hands-on with iPhone 5 after Apple's media event concluded.
“What's most noticeable about the new device is the chassis is incredibly sleek, and exceptionally light... it feels almost too light in the hand,” said Topolsky. “This isn't just in comparison to the relatively heavy iPhone 4S — sure, the iPhone 5 may not be the thinnest phone out there as Apple claims — but this feels incredibly light against smartphones in general.”
I'm anxious to compare iPhone 5 myself side-by-side with 4S which has been dropped down to $99 now that there's a new kid in town.
iPhone 5 pricing is impressive starting at $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB and $399 for a 64GB model in Black or White.
Pre-ordering for iPhone 5 begins Friday, September 14 with an official launch date of September 21st which aligns with early rumors. iOS 6 will be available for download on September 19th for all other devices. You can grab the the new Apple EarPods now for $29 — the re-engineered headset will ship inside the box with iPhone 5 (they won't cost you extra).
What I found quite amazing about this product launch compared to earlier iPhone announcements, was how incredibly accurate the leaked information was prior to Apple's media event. If the company was truly “doubling down on product secrecy,” as CEO Tim Cook promised back in March — there was little proof of that in the weeks leading up to the official iPhone 5 launch.
Apple did finally deliver in iPhone 5 what most faithful were hoping to see a year ago when iPhone 4S burst onto the scene. But will the company really sell 10 million iPhones by the end of September as predicted by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster? That slightly tall order is yet to be seen.
Apple Stock (AAPL) closed at 669.72 up +9.13 or (1.38%) on Wednesday after the media event.
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