Apple today announced a little something called the iPhone 5, which the company says is 18% thinner and 20% lighter than the iPhone 4S (7.6mm thick and 112 grams, to be specific). As had been revealed-to-death by pre-release rumors, the device comes with a 326 pixels per inch larger 4 inch Retina display, a new A6 chipset (twice as fast as the A5, insists Apple), and a new radio that supports LTE networks.

Verizon, AT&T and Sprint will all be supported here in the States, and as rumors also suggested T-Mobile will be left out of the equation, instead busily trying to lure older unlocked iPhone users to their network. As rumored there's also a new power connector, which Apple is calling their "lightning" connector they claim is 80% smaller.

Lacking will be near-field communications, and most users won't be able to enjoy the biggest change in the device due to still-spotty national LTE coverage (Sprint and AT&T spent the day hoping nobody pointed this out). Meanwhile the overall aesthetic changes form the 4S appear minimal, though Apple's Phil Schiller declared the iPhone 5 to be "the most beautiful product we've ever made, bar none."

A few more specifics:

•The new Lightning connector is 8-pin, Apple will sell adapters.

•A new 8 megapixel f/2.4 camera sensor promises improved performance, alongside a 1080p FaceTime camera

•2.4 and 5 GHz Wi-Fi support for theoretical speeds up to 150 Mbps

•Improved battery performance over 4S: example given was 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing, 8 hours using LTE.

•Prices are the same as previous models: $199, $299 and $399 with two-year contract

•Pre-orders begin Friday September 14 and the iPhone5 ships September 21