SAN FRANCISCO — The new iPhone that Apple unveiled on Wednesday does not have the biggest screen of any smartphone on the market, nor is it the first to offer Internet access over the latest, speediest wireless networks.

Apple executives say that does not matter. They care more about building the best phone, they say, and combining technologies into the most attractive package, not being first with the latest bells and whistles.

“I feel the need to be the best,” said Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, in a conversation after the event announcing the new device, the iPhone 5.

“We don’t view our products as a checklist of features,” he added.

The new iPhone has a larger, four-inch screen, faster wireless Internet speeds and a more powerful chip than the previous version of the company’s smartphone. It is 18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter.