Apple iPhone 5 16GB White details

More power, a better camera, a larger, four-inch screen and a brand new design combine to make the sixth-generation Apple smartphone the thinnest, lightest, fastest and best-looking iPhone ever. It really is the "biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone".

Thin is very definitely 'in'. For proof, look no further than the super-svelte iPhone 5. At just 7.6mm thin and weighing just 112 grams, it's 20 per cent skinnier and 18 per cent lighter than the iPhone 4S and cuts a dash in any company.

But that's not all. Because the iPhone 5 is taller than its predecessor, it's got room for a bigger, four-inch panel that's brilliant for watching widescreen HD video. What's more, with higher colour saturation and 326 pixels per inch packed in, it delivers among the most vivid, lifelike images we've ever seen on a smartphone.

Speed and power also mark out this great phone from the chasing pack. With 4G support (depending on your network), it's capable of delivering mobile internet browsing speeds up to six times faster than 3G. So whether it's downloading apps, streaming video or playing online games, the iPhone 5 allows you to do more of it, faster.

Boosting the iPhone 5 in the speed-stakes is the on board A6 processor. Custom-made for the iPhone 5, it's twice as fast as the A5 processor that powers the iPhone 4S. That means apps open and close faster and everything moves with a sense of real snap. What's more, because it handles 3D graphics better it makes for some amazingly rich, immersive mobile gaming experiences too.

But if you think that the processor and 4G must make the iPhone 5 a battery hog, think again. Because the A6 processor has been made just for this handset, it's optimised to be as efficient as possible. That means you'll get up to eight hours of browsing or eight hours of talk time, or up to 10 hours of video playback.

iPhones have always doubled as great cameras. And of course the iPhone 5 is no exception. This time around the eight-megapixel snapper that featured on the iPhone 4S has been given improved HD video recording and a stunning panorama mode. You'll also get an improved camera app with slicker performance in low light conditions and 40 per cent faster photo capture.

And completing what's an incredible update is all new software. iOS 6, the latest version of Apple's operating system, now offers a better Siri app that means you can now speak updates directly to your Facebook page and receive voice results for where to eat and what movies to watch. Apple Maps debuts with iOS 6 too, offering turn-by-turn directions, real-time traffic information and spoken directions to get you wherever it is you need to go.

Other features of the iPhone 5 include 16GB of storage, a secondary 1.2-megapixel camera for video calls with the FaceTime app and a choice of tens of thousands of great apps and games from the App Store download market.