There was speculation that Apple might also announce a new iPad Wednesday, but that wasn't to be. It did roll out new iPods, however, including a new iPod Touch that has a similarly larger screen.

The iPhone 5 launch comes as Apple fights to recover its dominance in the smartphone sector. Rival Samsung shipped nearly twice as many smartphones as Apple in the second quarter, as Apple buyers held off making purchases pending today's launch, according to iSuppli in July.

Apple won a massive patent-infringement court case against Samsung in the U.S. in August. Samsung must pay Apple around $1 billion in damages and make changes to some of its phones in order to keep selling them in the U.S.

(Jason Snell and Dan Moren of Macworld contributed to this report.)