Tech blog: Apple’s iPhone 4S - Much ado about nothing?

Now that the dust has settled on Apple’s latest product launch, and the tech bloggers of the world have had a chance to catch a breath - or, perhaps more accurately, wipe away the tears of disappointment at the lack of any iPhone 5 preview - let’s take a look at what’s new in this latest incarnation of the wildly popular smartphone.

Despite months of speculation, this was not the curtain-raiser for the fabled iPhone 5, and a souped-up version of an existing model was never going to appease the baying mobs outside the gates of Apple’s gleaming temple of geekery.

It’s been 16 months since the iPhone 4 was unveiled, and we have what, on first glance, is an incremental update, with the same design and the same screen size. So what is new?

• At last night’s launch event at Apple HQ near San Francisco, it was the Siri personal assistant software which got people excited. This allows you to command your phone by voice control, and although voice control itself is nothing new, this is seen as a major advance in the technology and one Apple believe will become an essential draw for the iPhone.

• The new dual-core A5 chip will deliver “up to two times more power and up to seven times faster graphics”, Apple claim. Battery life, which is heavily sapped by 3G on the go, will be improved.

• The aerial problem which marred the launch of the iPhone 4 has been fixed, thanks to a new dual aerial which can automatically switch to bring a faster and more stable signal. A genuine improvement, or something they should have got right at the start? You decide.

• An improved 8MP camera, with a better processor and sensor, brings the iPhone 4 into the range of everyday digital cameras, and may convince many that their old camera is surplus to requirements for simple photography. The new camera can also film video in in true HD 1080p quality.

• The new iOS 5 operating system has a one-stop ‘what’s new’ page, new messaging options and better integration with Twitter.

• The iCloud is a new back-up service which should work a lot better than iTunes. Time will tell.

And that’s about it.

So why did they hold off on the iPhone 5, which is still very much under wraps?

Despite the slavish hype that surrounds Apple, its stranglehold on the smartphone market is under threat: Samsung has overtaken the US giant with a 22 per cent market share, while HTC’s has risen from 8 per cent to 14 per cent.

It seems that by launching this halfway house model at what will be a more modest price than the iPhone 5, Apple is attempting to stifle this trend and ensure its loyal fanbase is not tempted over to the phones which run on Google’s Android system.

Whether this strategy works or not remains to be seen, but don’t expect those iPhone 5 rumours to die down any time soon.