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Apple unveils the iPhone 4S

Image courtesy of The Verge

Apple’s Phil Schiller has just announced the iPhone 4S, which is both GSM and CDMA compatible, sports the new dual-core A5 chip, a redesigned 8-megapixel camera system, and the graphics are up to 7 times faster than the previous iPhone. Full details below.

As 9to5Mac predicted, the iPhone 4S will be available in 16GB ($199), 32GB ($299), and 64GB ($399) models. Pre-orders start on October 7th followed by a public release on the 14th of October in US, Canada, Australia, the UK, France, Germany, and Japan. Twenty-two more countries will get the device on the 28th followed by over 70 countries by the end of the year.

As part of the new camera system, you can now record 1080p HD video with real-time video image stabilization, and real-time temporal noise reduction. The new iPhone also includes a redesigned camera system that includes a new sensor and 8-megapixels for 60% more pixels than in the iPhone 4 camera. There is also a hybrid IR filter for “better color accuracy” and “more color uniformity”, and a 5 element lens resulting in 30% more sharpness. Schiller also notes face detection and improved white balance.

“We have an amazing lens system, five lens elements. It’s now a really wide f2.4. Compared to most point and shoots we can let in a lot of light.”

Schiller also noted the new 4S camera will take only 1.1 seconds to snap the first photo, followed by a half a second to take the next. He then joked about the alternatives:

“I don’t know what Droid Bionic customers have to do between taking pictures… like, go get coffee.”

Addressing the iPhone 4 antenna issues, iPhone 4S includes a completely redesigned antenna system. Schiller explains:

“Second — the wireless system. As you know we revolutionized with these steel bands on the outside of the phone. We’ve done something technically amazing. It can now intelligently switch between the antennas for even better call quality.”

The iPhone 4S can download data almost 2x as fast as the previous iPhone with a theoretical download speed of 14.4Mbps (HSDPA).

iPhone 4S includes 8 hours of talk time, 14 hours of 2G talktime, 6 hours of 3g browsing, and 9 hours of Wi-Fi browsing.

“Next, iPhone. It’s a breakthrough device.”

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Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.