Apple Announces iPhone 5

iPhone 5 was announced this morning slightly less than a year after the announcement of iPhone 4S on the on the 4th October 2012.

I was pretty disappointed with the announcement because practically all the leaks came out to be 100% accurate so it somehow spoils the fun.

On the bright side, Singapore will be part of the first rollout of the iPhone 5. This is the first time for iPhones. I am glad that Apple decided to upgrade Singapore to “first class” citizen since the launch of the new iPad (aka iPad 3).

The iPhone 5 will be available in Singapore, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the US and the UK on Friday, 21st September 2012 and preorders start this Friday, 14th September 2012.

iPhone 5 will roll out to 22 more countries (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland) on 28th September 2012.

It comes with both black and white color, available in 16GB, 32GB or 64GB model. The black variant will come with black anodized aluminum back while the white version will have a raw aluminum back.

Prices remain the same as iPhone 4S when it first came out:

iPhone 5 (16GB) – S$948
iPhone 5 (32GB) – S$1,088
iPhone 5 (64GB) – S$1,238

Because of iPhone 5, the price of iPhone 4S (16GB) has dropped to S$788 while the iPhone 4 (8GB) has dropped to S$588.

iOS 6 software will be available to download for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, the new iPad, iPad 2 and iPod touch (4th generation onwards) on next Wednesday, 19th September 2012. Sorry iPad 1 users, you have been left out.

In terms of specification (as compared to iPhone 4S)

Lighter (122g vs 140g) and thinner (7.6mm vs 9.3mm)
Supports LTE
Screen has gone bigger (4″ vs 3.5″)
Resolution has gone higher by 176px (1136×640 vs 960×640)
Back camera is almost the same but with the ability to take panoramic pictures (also coming to iPhone 4S in iOS 6)
Front camera has been upgraded to 1.2MP with 720p (30fps) video recording up from VGA quality
Battery life has been approved by a little but I doubt you will notice the different. Standby time (225H vs 200H), 3G (8H vs 6H), Wi-Fi (10H vs 9H)
New earphones – Apple EarPods with Remote and Mic
The headphone jack has been moved to the bottom
Uses Nano-SIM instead of MicroSIM
Uses new connector (8-pin) named “Lightning” (previously was known as Apple 30-pin Dock Connector)