Apple iPhone 5: Specs, Features, Price, Keynote And Introductory Video - Everything You Need To Know

As claimed by Apple, "the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever" finally saw the light of the day Wednesday when the company announced its sixth generation iPhone, the "iPhone 5," in San Francisco.

The Apple iPhone 5 comes with the long-rumored 4-inch Retina display, a much faster Apple-designed A6 chip and faster wireless technology -- all while claiming to have an even better battery life. The new flagship handset runs on iOS 6, which has over 200 new features including the new Maps app, Facebook integration, Passbook organization and additional Siri features and languages.

As pointed out by Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, the iPhone 5 is 7.6mm thick, weighs only 112 grams and is constructed "entirely" out of glass and aluminum.

Take a look at the specs factbox for the Apple iPhone 5 below:

The Keynote

The full keynote video of the Apple iPhone 5 event is now online for public viewing. Click here to go to Apple's website and watch the video. The keynote should be available on iTunes and YouTube soon.

The iPhone 5 Presentation Video

Apple has released an iPhone 5 presentation video that highlights all the new features of the sixth gen iPhone. Watch the video below:

A Brief Hardware Overview

iDownloadBlog has posted yet another video with a brief but detailed presentation of the iPhone 5's hardware. Watch it here.

The Apple iPhone 5 Hands-On Video

According to the Verge, the most noticeable thing about the iPhone 5 is not anything about its features but the fact that it's "incredibly sleek and exceptionally light." The site has posted a hands-on video of the new Apple smartphone. Check it out below.

Start the slideshow for more details about the Apple iPhone 5, including the building process, the reason behind the lack of NFC and more.

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In the iPhone 5 presentation video, Jony Ive, Apple’s SVP of Industrial Design, highlighted the manufacturing precision and expertise that play the key role in producing the new iPhone.

“To create the new iPhone, we began with the design that we really loved. But to build it, to implement it -- we had to look way beyond what we knew to be possible,” Ive said. “It took all of our learning, our best thinking, to realize something so simple, so clear and yet so truly extraordinary.”

As noted by iDownloadBlog, the new iPhone’s “Unibody enclosure and the mirror-like finish of its diamond-cut beveled edge” is yet another aspect that makes the production process, in Ivy’s words, Apple’s “most complex and ambitious.”

This is what Apple has to say about the iPhone 5’s two-tone metallic backplate:

“The back of the iPhone 5 is made of anodized 6000 series aluminum -- the same material used in Apple notebooks -- with inlays along the top and bottom made of ceramic glass (on the white and silver model) or pigmented glass (on the black and slate model).”

About the in-cell process for the Retina display:

“Making a thinner, lighter iPhone meant even the display had to be thinner. Apple engineers accomplished that by creating the first Retina display with integrated touch technology.

"Which means instead of a separate layer of touch electrodes between display pixels, the pixels do double duty -- acting as touch-sensing electrodes while displaying the image at the same time.

With one less layer between you and what you see on the iPhone 5, you experience more clarity than ever before. All on a display that’s 30 percent thinner than before.”

Watch the official iPhone 5 video here for more details.

Schiller said in an interview with AllThingsD after the media event on Wednesday that the iPhone 5 didn’t include NFC, at least this time, because “Passbook does the kinds of things customers need today.”

He believed that thanks to Passbook, users of the new iPhone won’t miss tools like Google Wallet and ISIS, the joint venture between AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless in the mobile payment space.

Schiller also discussed why Apple said no to wireless charging. According to him, the wireless charging systems need to be plugged into the wall anyway.

“Having to create another device you have to plug into the wall is actually, for most situations, more complicated,” Schiller added.

And the reason for ditching the 30-pin dock connector? Well, Schiller said that the sleek dimensions of the iPhone 5 and the iPod touch required something smaller, which the new 9-pin “Lightening” port offered.

The new 4-inch Retina display on the iPhone 5 delivers more pixels than the iPhone 4S. By making the screen taller, not wider, Apple said that the iPhone 5 is easy to use with one hand to tap, type and scroll, the same way as before.

The iPhone 5 has a new 7.6 mm anodized aluminum body that is claimed to be 18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than iPhone 4S. The handset also has diamond cut chamfered edges and glass inlays.

The iPhone 5 supports faster wireless standards including LTE and DC-HSDPA. To support the latest LTE technology, Apple has used a new single-radio LTE solution that provides faster speeds. The phone features dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi support for a wireless experience up to 150 Mbps.

The Apple iPhone 5 comes with a much faster Apple-designed A6 chip and faster wireless technology -- all while claiming to have even better battery life. The new flagship handset runs on iOS 6, which includes over 200 new features, including the new Maps app, Facebook integration, Passbook organization and more Siri features and languages.

The iPhone 5 will be available from the Apple Online Store, Apple’s retail stores, and through AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless and select Apple Authorized Resellers. It will be available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK on Friday, September 21, and customers can pre-order their iPhone 5 beginning Friday, Sept. 14.

According to Apple, the iPhone 5 will roll out worldwide to 22 more countries on Sept. 28, including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

The iPhone 5 on display after its introduction during Apple's iPhone media event in San Francisco.

Members of the media photograph the iPhone 5 after its introduction during Apple Inc.'s iPhone media event in San Francisco.