From Reuters

Apple has introduced the iPhone 5, calling the device its thinnest, lightest smartphone ever.

The phone, which will run on higher speed LTE networks, is made entirely out of glass and aluminum. It will have a larger, 4-inch screen, showing five rows of icons, with a "retina" display.

The iPhone 5 comes with Apple's newest “A6” processor, which executives claimed runs twice as fast as the previous generation. It will have three microphones and a better 8 megapixel camera that can take pictures on higher resolutions.

"It's an absolute jewel. It's the most beautiful product we've ever made," said Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook told the crowd at the Yerba Buena Centre in San Francisco.

Apple Inc. will begin taking orders for the iPhone 5 on Friday, costing $199 for the cheapest 16 gigabyte version to $399 at the top end. Shipments begin on Sept. 21, and the smartphone will be sold in 100 countries by the end of the year.

The latest iPhone comes as Apple tries to fend off competition that has reached fever-pitch. Google Inc's Android has become the most-used mobile operating system in the world, while key supplier and rival Samsung Electronics has taken the lead in smartphone sales.

Apple has sold more than 243 million iPhones since its 2007 arrival, after which the device proceeded to upend the industry and helped usher in the current applications ecosystem.

Apple also is making a lot of headway in a corporate market that has been dominated by struggling Canadian smartphone maker Research in Motion. Cook said almost every Fortune 500 companies was testing or using its iPhones and iPads.

Cook told the audience that its apps store now has more than 700,000 on tap -- the industry's largest library.

Cook began the presentation by saying the company's notebooks now rank tops in U.S. sales, leading in market share in the past three months.

But it is the iPhone that carries the weight of Apple's future on its slim frame, especially with the company continuing to play its cards close to the vest about future growth drivers, including an oft-rumored TV device.