To briefly answer this the key differences include:

• A new A7, 64 bit architecture, processor chip
• A new M7 motion coprocessor
• 64 bit iOS 7 operating system
• A fingerprint recognition lock button
• An improved 8MP iSight camera and dual LED flash
• iOS 7 and iWorks bundle
• Improved LTE compatibility

The similarities to the iPhone 5 are the 4” Retina screen, external case size, look, and battery life – one day at best.

• Display: 4” Retina, 1136 x 640, 326 PPI. Features 800:1 contrast ratio and 500 cd/m2 maximum brightness so it is pretty much the same as the iPhone 5 and 5C. Gorilla Glass, oleophobic (less smudge) coating.
• Processor: Apple designed A7 - more details to come.
• Weight/Size: 112g, 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6mm
• LTE (4G) – will require Australian specific model A1530 with LTE channels 2100 MHz, 1900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 850 MHz, 2600 MHz, 900 MHz, 800 DD, TD 2600, TD 1900, and TD 2300. Note this means phones purchased in the US, South America, Europe, UK, China (locked to China Mobile) and Japan may not work with Telstra, Optus (Virgin) or Vodafone. We assume that 3G HSDPA and 2G will be universal.
• Sensors: Bluetooth 4.0; 802.11 N 2.4 and 5GHz; Assisted GPS/Glonass, compass; Three-axis gyro; Accelerometer; Proximity sensor; Ambient light sensor; Fingerprint sensor
• Battery: 1440 mAh charges with Lightning connector. Up to 10 hours 3G talk time, 10 hours video playback or 40 hours audio playback. Similar to iPhone 5
• Rear Camera: 8 megapixels, 3264x2448, with larger 1.5u pixels, ƒ/2.2 aperture, True Tone dual LED flash, Backside illumination sensor, Five-element lens – should provide slightly better photos than the iPhone 5. Front camera – 1.2MP, 1280x960, 720p
• Price: AU$869 for 16GB, AU$999 for 32 GB, and AU$1129 for 64GB.

Apple is bundling iWorks (Keynote, Pages, and Numbers) – previously at extra cost. Other apps include: iPhoto; iMovie; iBooks; iTunes U; iTunes Festival; Podcasts; Find My iPhone; Remote; and Find My Friends.

All the previous iPhone 5 standard apps – maps, weather, messages, mail, Safari etc are included.

Of course this runs iOS 7 which has a different look and feel and some 200 new features

Summary:

A repackaged iPhone 5 with some nice upgrades.

Apple’s claim of being the first 64-bit smartphone is a bit of a grey area – Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S800 and nVIDIA Tegra 4 will do that but Android is not yet a 64 bit OS. The A7 chip runs both 64-bit and 32-bit apps and will not see any real performance improvement until apps are updated.

The 8MP camera uses a similar setup to HTC with larger pixels (1.5 micro versus 1.4) instead of more pixels like Samsung and Nokia. As far as I can tell more pixels are better and Nokia’s Carl Zeiss six lens is definitely the class leader. The TrueTone flash means that it can adjust the flash output using two different colour temperature LEDs - will improve flash shots. Apple’s camera app has also barely caught up to the Samsung S Camera or Nokia Pro Camera with the inclusion of better panorama, Autofocus, Tap to focus, Face detection, Burst mode and geo-tagging. Video has better image stabilisation, 3x digital zoom, and slow-motion mode.

Apple claim that it is up to 40x times faster (CPU) and 56x times faster (GPU) than the original iPhone – seriously that would not be hard. I expect that running full 64-bit OS and apps will improve speeds slightly over the iPhone 5 – maybe even double, but nothing more.

The OpenGL ES 3.0 support will open up video intensive, handheld games to this phone. Again these need to be rewritten in 64-bit to really see smooth rendering and performance.

The M7 motion processor is interesting. It works with the accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass to collect motion data – opening up opportunities for e-health, sports, context sensitive applications, and more. It is also less power hungry than using the A7 CPU for the same job.

Lastly, the fingerprint scanner built into the home button is nice and will improve security and convenience but it is not outstanding technology – 10 points for being an early adopter.

Opinion:

An impressive, but not compelling, update on the iPhone 5.

Existing users will not be desperate to upgrade unless Apple does something innovative like a trade in program – alas not for Australia.

The majority of reviews since release a few hours ago (no one has actually tested the phone) are overwhelmingly ho-hum but I think once we see iOS 7 on the handset it will impress.

The majority still deprecate the use of the Lightning connector over USB 3.0, but that’s Apple’s walled garden in operation.

The refusal to go to a larger 5” screen is interesting – I doubt that it will draw Samsung and Nokia users away from their larger screen phones. Note that I refer to Samsung Android and Nokia Windows Phones as the only two other viable suppliers with sufficient market share to swallow the competitor’s piece of the pie. In the absence of a world beating, innovative iPhone, it is a fight to the death now.