Apple iPhone 5 Debuts: Specs Include 4-Inch Display, New CPU, LTE And More!

The iPhone 5 is upon us and many of the rumors we have reported on over the last several months appear to be true.

The phone is 18 percent thinner than the iPhone 4S, coming it at just 7.6mm which supported a two-tone build made of glass and aluminum. The iPhone 5 is also just 112 grams, 20 percent lighter than the iPhone 4S.

One of the biggest upgrades is the devices 4-inch Retinal panel display which brings a resolution of 1136 x 640 with 326ppi. The display also features full sRGB rendering for improved color saturation. Thanks to the longer size of the display users will also now find an extra set of icons on the home screen.

Perhaps the most sought after iPhone 5 feature is the introduction of long term evolution (LTE) support which complements the devices use of HSPA+, EV-DO and Edge connectivity. The LTE option will be available for Sprint, Verizon and AT&T Wireless customers in areas where LTE has launched. LTE is supported by the iPhone 5’s single chip data and voice solution. Also features is 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi.

Missing from Apple’s newest product however is NFC mobile payments, a rising technology that has promised to revolutionize the mobile payments industry.

Apple is also claiming that the iPhone 5 features a processor that is two times after than the iPhone 4S. The new chipset is powered by the A6 processor which is believed to be 22 percent smaller than its predecessor. With more efficient hardware Apple is now claiming 8 hours of talk time, even with the addition of power hungry LTE technology. Wi-Fi users can hope to receive 10 hours of device use.

As for the camera, it’s not much better on the surface than the iPhone 4S option, featuring a backside-illuminated 8 megapixel sensor with a 5 element lens and an f/2.4 aperture. However, Apple has thrown in panoramic shooting which stitches together a 28 megapixel photo. The iPhone 5 is also now capable of shooting in 1080p video. If that isn’t enough for camera enthusiasts the front-side camera can now shoot 720p quality video.

The biggest advance in video technology however comes from the ability to shoot FaceTime in high-resolution video and take part in 4G network video conferencing.

For voice quality Apple has also introduced a five-magnet transducer that on certain mobile towers will produce better voice based results, while also allowing Siri to better understand grumbling speech.

As rumored earlier the iPhone 5 also ditches the company’s traditional 30-pin dock connector for an eight-pin plug which is 80 percent smaller and all digital. Apple is referring to the new dock connector as the “lightning” connector.

Throw in iOS 6 which features Apple mapping, Playbook and a new version of Siri and Apple has produced a nice sleek device.

Here’s the pricing breakdown:

$199 for the 16GB model, $299 for the 32GB model and the 64GB at $399. Sorry folks but no word on the 128GB version yet.

Shipments to the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore start on September 21st. Pre-orders start on September 14.

Are you impressed with the iPhone 5 specs and pricing?