In his since he took the reins in 2011, Cook kicked off the iPhone 5 launch, then introduced several top Apple officials to spell out details.

"Today, we're taking it to the next level, we're making a huge leap," said Cook at the start of the event. Near its end, he added, "This is the biggest thing to happen to iPhone since the [original] iPhone," referring to the first-generation smartphone that former CEO Steve Jobs launched in January 2007.

The iPhone 5 will go on sale at 8 a.m. local time Sept. 21 in Apple's retail stores in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the U.K. Carrier partners and some authorized resellers will also being selling it that day. Online and phone pre-orders will start two days from now, on Friday, Sept. 14. The iPhone 5 will be priced at $199 for a 16GB model, $299 for 32GB, and $399 for 64GB of storage space.

Apple is also retaining the last-generation 16GB iPhone 4S, and pricing it at $99, a 50% reduction. In addition, it will continue distributing an 8GB iPhone 4 -- the 2010 version -- for free, the second time its dipped into two-year-old inventory.

All prices -- including the free iPhone 4 -- require a two-year commitment to a mobile carrier. AT&T, Sprint and Verizon will carry the new phone in the U.S.