Apple is expected to unveil its latest version of its popular iPhone, dubbed the iPhone 5 today.

Sales of the iPhone account for almost half of Apple’s total revenue, but after a series of disputes with rivals, competition in the smartphone and tablet market is getting tougher

(CNN) — When Apple CEO Tim Cook takes the stage Wednesday in San Francisco, presumably to introduce the world to the iPhone 5, everyone knows what’s going to happen.
As a company that has honed image-making to a multi-billion-dollar science, Apple has drafted a detailed playbook for its product announcements. The stagecraft rarely, if ever, strays from that tried-and-true script.
Invited journalists and others will crowd into an auditorium decorated with cryptic banners teasing something vaguely exciting. Some edgy but accessible rock, from the counterculture whine of Dylan to the indie stylings of The Shins, will greet the audience as they settle into their seats. Then the show starts.
“Tim Cook will tell us all about Apple,” said Rene Ritchie, editor-in-chief of iMore, an Apple-centric blog focused on mobile devices. “(Marketing vice president) Phil Schiller will come out and show us the new iPods. Then (vice president) Scott Forstall will come show us the software.”
Finally, after almost an hour of mounting expectations, comes the big reveal. This time, it’s going to be an iPhone 5, unless the company has perpetrated a hoodwinking of unprecedented proportions.

Steve Jobs was savvy at building anticipation for his “One more thing …” surprise announcements of new products.
Predictable? Yes. But, boring? Not in the eyes of the hordes of Apple fanatics who will be hanging on every word.
Because when perhaps the most secretive company in tech holds an event, everyone thinks they know what’s going to happen — but no one knows exactly what’s going to happen.
“It’s like the Super Bowl and the Oscars of technology all rolled into one,” Ritchie said.