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iPhone 4S to launch with iOS 5 & iCloud
Wed, 5th Oct 2011
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Update: Traffic is understandably busy, but Apple has posted the video of this morning's 96-minute iPhone presentation.

Story: Apple has held its highly anticipated iPhone event, introducing an upgraded model, the iPhone 4S, and announcing the release dates for iOS 5 and iCloud.

Investors seem to have been left disheartened by the event, with shares in the company falling from above US$380 earlier in the day to below US$360.

The new iPhone will be more powerful than the standard iPhone 4, boasting a new dual-core A5 chip. Other hardware improvements include an ultra-clear Retina display and an 8 megapixel camera with 1080p HD video recording.

In software, as well as running iOS 5 and iCloud, the iPhone 4S will offer Airplay, which allows streaming from the device to an HDTV, and a funky voice-control app called Siri, with which users can issue basic questions and commands, and receive and reply to messages, all via voice.

The announcement also briefly touched in the iPod, revealing minor upgrades to the iPod Touch and iPod Nano. Pricing was given for these models, but not for the iPod Classic, which suggests the device may be on the way out.

As for the iPhone 4S, although we don't have details for the NZ market just yet, the device will be available for pre-order in the US on October 7, and will reach stores around the world – including Australia – on October 14. iOS 5 and iCloud will both be launched on October 12.