Apple’s share price fell sharply on Tuesday as it failed to announce a much-anticipated iPhone 5 smartphone, instead unveiling an incremental update in the form of the iPhone 4S.

Its share price fell by more than 4% in intraday trading as new CEO Tim Cook, who has taken the reins at Apple following the recent departure of co-founder Steve Jobs, unveiled iOS 5, its new mobile operating system, and the iPhone 4S, the successor to its iPhone 4 smartphone.

But investors were clearly expecting more, sending the company’s share price sharply lower.

The iPhone 4S looks identical to its predecessor, but includes what Cook calls “all-new” innards, including a dual-core A5 processor and a new graphics processor that the company claims boosts graphics performance seven-fold.

Highlights of the Tuesday keynote included a new antenna system that supposedly fixes the problems iPhone 4 users experienced — Cook suggested this was “amazing” — and a “world phone” that offers both GSM and CDMA connectivity. Consumers expecting a “4G” LTE version were disappointed as the new phone supports only 14,4Mbit/s 3G technology.

The 4S now has an 8-megapixel shooter — with 1080p video recording — and better performance in low-light conditions.

The new phone will ship with iOS 5, Apple’s updated operating system for mobile devices, which will be available for download on 12 October for other Apple devices such as the iPad and older iPhones.

The company is also claiming improved battery life — eight hours of talk time on 3G and 14 hours on 2G. — Staff reporter, TechCentral