Irish superstars U2 have released their first album in five years free on Apple's iTunes as the tech giant unveiled its latest smartphones.
At a launch event near San Francisco, U2 played a single from the new album, Songs of Innocence, which Apple announced it had sent out for free to half a billion iTunes customers around the world.
Frontman Bono described the album, the band's first since No Line on the Horizon in 2009, as deeply personal and called the release "instant gratification".
"From the very beginning U2 have always wanted our music to reach as many people as possible, the clue is in our name I suppose - so today is kind of mind-blowing to us," Bono said.
"The most personal album we've written could be shared with half a billion people - by hitting send. If only songwriting was that easy."