New Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage at Apple's Cupertino campus, for the long-awaited iPhone event where many expected to hear the announcement of the iPhone 5. The iPhone 5, however, was not announced, although Apple did have a new iPhone up its sleeve - the iPhone 4S.

The new iPhone 4S keeps the same look as the iPhone 4, but comes with many new hardware and software improvements. The 4S will run the new iOS 5 operating system, and feature a dual core A5 processor for 2X the performance of the previous model, dual core graphics for 7X faster graphics than the previous model, and solid battery life that offers 8 hours of 3G talk time, 14 hours of 2G talk time, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 9 hours of Wi-Fi browsing, 10 hours of video playback, and 40 hours of music playback.

The iPhone 4S also automatically switches between two antennas to transmit and receive, for improved call quality, and has 2X faster downloads, with theoretical speeds up to 14.4Mbps. The 4S is now a world phone as well, with both GSM and CDMA. Additionally, the 4S will feature a 8MP camera with 3264 x 2448 resolution, 60% more pixels than the previous model, a five element lens with 30% more sharpness than the previous model, and backside illumination with 73% more light for improved picture quality. 1080p HD video recording with video image stabilization and temporal noise reduction are also added to the mix, and AirPlay Mirroring, which can be done both wired and wirelessly, promises to be quite useful for those needing to give presentations or looking to do gaming on a big screen from their phone.

New voice features were also put on display, including dictation and the Siri personal assistant with voice control and voice recognition, both of which improve over time as they learn your voice. The new voice features support English (US, UK, and Australia), French, and German, with more languages and services coming soon.

iPhone 4S will be available in both black and white versions, with the 16GB model selling for $199, the 32GB model selling for $299, and a 64GB model selling for $399. All prices reflect a two year contract requirement with the carrier. Pre-orders for the iPhone 4S begin October 7th. The phone will be available on October 14th. The iPhone 4S will be available first in the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, France, Germany, and Japan, with Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint as the carriers in the US. On October 28th, the 4S will roll out to 22 more countries, including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. By the end of the year, the 4S will be in 70 countries with over 100 carriers.

Apple also announced that the previous model iPhone 4 will now be $99 for an 8GB model with a two year contract, and the iPhone 3GS will now be free for an 8GB model with a two year contract. For more information, visit: www.apple.com/iphone