Usually a cause for techno-euphoria , Apple 's iPhone-a-palooza event on Tuesday had an unintended and unlikely effect : It made some corners of the Internet mad . `` LET 'S TALK *NEW* IPHONE ALREADY ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! '' the Twitter celebrity @ ijustine wrote during the company 's much-hyped press conference , where it unveiled the iPhone 4S -- a phone that looks just like its predecessor , but is faster and has a better camera . `` Tim Cook is talking too much . I just need to know if I have to put pants on and run to the Apple Store righhttt now , '' she wrote closer to the start of the event , referring to Apple 's new CEO , who was panned by many online as dull compared to Steve Jobs . The collective reaction online : Probably not . Many observers seemed underwhelmed by Tuesday 's Apple news . Here are five reasons why some people are calling the iPhone 4S announcement a dud : . The rumor mill . Bloggers have been gossiping about the details of the fifth-generation iPhone literally since the iPhone 4 was unveiled in June 2010 . In the process , they may have set some unrealistic expectations -- - including hopes that the phone would `` radically change , '' which it did n't . The iPhone 4S looks exactly like the iPhone 4 . For more on the rumors that did n't come to pass , check out Gawker 's `` iPhone 5 Failboard . '' Side note : Al Gore , an Apple board member , made an apparently offhand comment that fueled speculation Apple might announce not one but TWO iPhones on Tuesday . Again , high expectations . The wait . Apple usually announces a new iPhone in June . This year it waited until October , amid speculation that it was having trouble getting the parts it needed to manufacture the new version of the phone . Those extra four months gave the aforementioned rumor mill a little more time to rev up . Dull presentation . This was the first center-stage presentation for Tim Cook , who replaced Apple co-founder Steve Jobs as CEO on August 24 amid reports of Jobs ' ailing health . Cook is notably less outgoing and charismatic than Jobs , and the company 's presenters Tuesday took their time getting to the meat of the event -- the iPhone 4S announcement . That produced lots of chatter on Twitter and elsewhere that the company had nothing significant to say . A day in the life of an iPhone addict . Stocks also reacted bizarrely to the news , falling as much as 5 % before closing 0.5 % down for the day , CNNMoney reports . `` There 's nothing wrong with a company coming out with an incremental improvement , but with a big news conference comes the expectation of something big , '' Jeff Kagan , a technology analyst , told CNNMoney 's David Goldman . `` This was n't big . '' The name . When the iPhone 3GS debuted in 2009 , critics were similarly unimpressed . Maybe that has something to do with the name . Many people expected Apple to announce a completely redesigned iPhone 5. iPhone 4S sounds much more like a facelift of a current product -- which is fair because that 's what it is . It looks the same . This is perhaps the biggest reason people are n't wowed by the iPhone 4S : It has exactly the same shell as the iPhone 4 . The rumor mill wanted to see a phone with a `` teardrop '' shaped back and a bigger screen . No such luck . All of the new features of the iPhone 4S are essentially invisible : A faster processor , better camera and a `` humble virtual assistant '' called Siri that operates on voice commands . For status seekers , what good is flashing your new iPhone if it looks just like the old one ?
People have been gossiping about the fifth - generation iPhone since June 2009 . This was first presentation for Tim Cook , who replaced Steve Jobs as CEO . Many people expected Cook to introduce a completely new iPhone 5 .