New iPhone 5 announced, detailed by Apple

By a show of hands, who’s surprised that a new iPhone was announced last week?
The sixth iPhone redesign, officially dubbed the iPhone 5 (yes, really), was officially revealed during Apple’s annual Cupertino event. Now that we’re officially out of iPhone 4S territory we can all relax, take a deep breath and look at some technical specs.

First of all, let’s talk about the screen. The iPhone 5 will be sporting a fancy new four-inch Retina display with 326 pixels per inch.

Exciting, right? Well, if you liked that then you’ll love to hear that the screen’s resolution is set for 1136 x 640. The new device is also still the same width as the iPhone 4S (which would make sense considering resolution requirements) but it is a bit taller.

At just 7.6mm thick, the iPhone 5 is a whole, whopping 18 percent slimmer than the previous model. A direct result of the phone’s sleeker design is a 20 percent drop in weight, leaving the iPhone 5 to weigh in at just 112 grams. And if you were worried about the newer, smaller design interfering with the look of your old apps and games, don’t fret. All old software will run in letterbox on the new platform.

In terms of communication, the iPhone 5 utilizes all legacy protocols such as EV-DO and HSPA/+. However, it also uses the new LTE system. In case you’re not a technical expert, what that basically means is that, while it can still use old communication systems for those that don’t have access to the newest technology, it can also run on the newer, faster LTE protocol. The LTE protocol essentially enables faster upload and download speeds on the phone or, as Apple is calling it, “Ultrafast Wireless.”

This isn’t the first device to use LTE by miles, but it is the first iPhone to use it. So if you only use iPhones, upgrading is the only way to gain access to the new wireless protocol.

One thing that isn’t different about the iPhone 5 from its predecessor is the pricing. The new device will maintain the iPhone 4S’s pricing scheme with a 16 gigabyte model setting you back $199, $299 for the 32GB model and finally $399 for 64GB flavor.

Some other numbers that floated out of the press conference include that a study conducted last year found that 48 percent of all App Store revenue last year came from in-app purchases in free software. Meanwhile, 24 percent of overall revenue came from in-app purchases made in paid software. Using a bit of mathematical deduction, we find that that means 28 percent of App Store revenue last year came from the normal purchase of paid apps.

While that might not sound like it means a lot, it really does. Numbers like that are likely to continue to tilt in the favor of in-app purchases as we see more and more developers going the free download route, and charging for specific features, add-ons and accessories. It does say a lot about the present and future of the App Store’s economy and how even non-iOS software products will likely be released in the future.

As for when you can, and likely will, buy one of these fancy new phones, the official release date for the U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong is Sept. 21.