Well, as we feared, there was no iPhone 5 today. BUT, Apple did debut the much anticipated iPhone 4S, which, it should be noted, looks to be a fairly incredible device.
The new iPhone 4S features all the goodies we had come to expect from a bumped up iPhone 4, including a dual core A5 processor (the same one used in the iPad 2), an 8 megapixel camera, the all-new iOS 5 and an impressive, artificially intelligent voice control feature called "Siri."
You'll be able to pre-order the phone on October 7 and it hits stores October 14. The iPhone is now available in a 64GB version and, for the first time, on Sprint. (They sure paid enough). That makes the poor folks at T-Mobile the only ones left out of the iClub.
The iPhone 4S 16GB is $199 on contract; 32GB is $299; 64GB is $399.
In other iPhone news, the iPhone 4 is now being sold at $99 in an 8GB only configuration, and the iPhone 3GS is sticking around for its third year on this mortal coil, now available for free on contract. We still feel bad for 3GSers, though, because at this point that phone can handle virtually none of the advanced features of the latest iOS release.
Speaking of iOS, iOS 5 will be available for download for current iDevice owners on October 12.
We think with the new price points, and Sprint availability, Apple is going to sell a ton of iPhones over the next year. They know this, of course, which likely has a lot to do with withholding iPhone 5.
Here are more deets on the iPhone 4S hardware and Siri.
Hardware
- A5 dual core processor w/ dual core graphics (Note: Apple doesn't like to speak in ghz)
- 8 megapixel camera, featuring backside illumination for 70 percent more light, f2.4 aperture length, and 33 percent faster shoot time
- 1080P HD video recording with image stabilization and noise reduction
- Faster HSDPA network for 2x download speeds.
- Dual CDMA and GSM world phone
- New wireless radio featuring intelligent antenna switching
Siri
- Natural language voice controls
- Creates, reads calendar appointments and reminders
- Creates, reads text messages
- Gives weather updates and map directions
- Wolfram Alpha and Wikipedia integration for answering trivia
More from Apple.
