Two teams -- one from iFixit, the other from IHS iSuppli -- have taken apart the new handset and published their results.

The iPhone 4S relies on the Apple-designed, dual-core A5 application processor, which is based on ARM's Cortex-A9 architecture, said iSuppli. That processor first made an appearance last March in Apple's iPad 2.

The A5 shows Apple is intent on continuing the practice it introduced last year, when it used the A4 processor -- the A5's predecessor -- first in the original iPad, then several months later in the iPhone 4.

Markings on the A5 strongly indicate that the iPhone 4S uses 512MB of system memory, iFixit and iSuppli said.

"How do we know it's 512MB? Check out the marking, specifically 'E4E4,' denoting two 2Gb LPDDR2 die -- for a total of 4Gb -- or 512MB," said iFixit in accompanying its teardown.