Apple "Bigger phones"

While Apple Watch was the most anticipated product, the company's new handsets are likely to be its biggest earners.

Apple saw its global share of smartphone shipments slip from 13% to 11.7% between the second quarters of 2013 and 2014, according to research firm IDC, while Android's share grew.

"The main benefit for Apple in going to a larger size of screen is not so much to woo people over to its devices, but to prevent its customers defecting, particularly to devices such as Samsung's Galaxy Note," said John Delaney, head of IDC's European mobility team.

The new iPhones are bigger and thinner than the previous version

"But one should bear in mind that Apple's decline is relative - the smartphone market has expanded, and most of the expansion has taken place in the lower price bracket that Apple doesn't address."

Apple had previously justified the 3.5in and 4in screen sizes of its existing iPhones as being suited to one-handed use. In 2010, the company's co-founder Steve Jobs went so far as to say "no-one's going to buy" a phone that they could not get a single hand around.

But one expert said a market had developed for so-called phablets.

"Watching video is definitely something that appeals on a bigger display, as well as gaming. And for business customers, having more space to do emails properly and look at and edit presentations helps," said Carolina Milanesi, chief of research at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

SMARTPHONE SALES BETWEEN JANUARY AND JULY 2014:

	UK	US	China
(SOURCE: KANTAR)
iOS	29.7%	33.5%	15.3%
Android	58.9%	60.0%	82.4%
Windows Phone	9.4%	4.7%	0.9%
Other	2%	1.8%	1.4%

Apple said that the A8 chip featured in the new phones would provide 25% faster compute performance than before.