But in-cell technology also improves the screen's quality: images are sharper, there's less glare in full sunlight, and it has 44% more color saturation, creating what Schiller said is the "most accurate [color] display in the industry."

Existing can run without any changes on iPhone 5: The phone automatically centers them, and adds black bars around the sides as needed. At the same time, Apple worked with a select group of outside software developers and discovered that very little work is needed to change those apps to make use of the larger screen, according to Schiller.

The body is made entirely of glass and aluminum, available in black, with a slate metal backplate, or white, with a silver backplate. The metal sideband seems to have a brushed texture and more pronounced bevel compared to the 4S. Without going into detail, Apple executives, and a video, stressed the "exacting level" of build quality in the new phone's manufacturing process. That's something that doesn't translate into visible changes, but has a direct impact on how users "feel" the device and make decisions about its quality.

Apple's first LTE phone has a single baseband chip for cellular communications, presumably from Qualcomm, its traditional supplier. That's important in terms of holding down costs and maximizing available internal space. The chip supports GPRS, EDGE, EV-DO, HSPA and now HSPA+, DC-HSDPA and LTE. LTE, which is currently in the U.S. only a data connection, has a theoretical maximum throughput of 100Mbps.

Also for the first time, Wi-Fi is enabled over the 5GHz band, in addition to the traditional 2.4GHz. That's an important step: It lets iPhone 5 connect on a much less crowded frequency, with more channels, and higher throughput: up to 150Mbps, according to Apple.