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After months of wild speculation, Apple has finally announced the fourth generation iPhone.

As you would expect, it’s not a departure from previous iPhones in the looks department, but there’s lots of new technology under the bonnet. It has a band of stainless steel around the case that not only provides the main structure, but acts as the GSM and radio antenna.

An extra front facing camera has been included, and the rear camera now has an LED flash. The display has been given a major upgrade; the pixels have doubled in each direction – it is now 960 x 640 pixels – giving four times the pixel count of the previous mode. Called the “Retina Display” and rated at 326 pixels per inch, Apple claims that it is beyond the human eye’s ability to distinguish individual pixels. It shares the iPad’s in-plane switching (IPS) LCD display and offers 800:1 contrast.

The case of the phone is now 25 per cent thinner, but the display size has not changed, staying at 3.5 inches. It has the same A4 processor as the iPad, but Apple has increased the size of the battery, and you will be able to get 7 hours of talk time, 10 hours internet browsing via WiFi and 6 hours browsing via a 3G connection. It’s also been rated as providing 40 hours of music and 10 hours of video.

The camera has been given an overhaul; the resolution has been increased to 5 mega pixels with a 5x digital zoom and the ability to record high definition 729p video at 30 frames per second.

These specifications come as no surprise to those who have been following development of the iPhone 4G. An unfortunate Apple employee left a prototype model in a bar an April, and the phone found its way to a prominent technology blog that leaked details about it. Luckily for the nameless Apple employee, he didn’t lose his job, but it does illustrate how important an iPhone insurance policy would be for a new owner. The UK price of the new model has yet to be announced, but iPhone insurance will be worthwhile as the US price at launch will be $299, meaning we can expect a launch price of roughly £300.