SAN FRANCISCO — Apple on Wednesday introduced a new iPhone 5 with a bigger screen and slimmer body that analysts quickly branded a sure hit for the culture-changing tech giant.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook called the launch "the biggest thing to happen to iPhone since the iPhone."
The California company called the iPhone 5 "the thinnest smart phone in the world," with an anodised aluminum body that is 18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than iPhone 4S.
The new iPhone has a rich 10-centimeter display, prime for the red-hot smar tphone market, in which screen size is one of the key factors important to buyers, according to Nielsen senior vice president Jeff Wender.
At a packed launch event in San Francisco, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller praised the new iPhone as "an absolute jewel.