With the iPhone 5 coming out this Friday in the US, UK, and Canada, to name a few, it leaves room to wonder when it'll reach to the other superpower across the globe: China.
Apple has confirmed that their latest smartphone will be released in some Asian territories this Friday with Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, but no word yet on a release date for mainland China, and if so, if there will be 4G LTE.
Apple has confirmed 4G LTE will be carried out with the following Asian markets and carriers:
Carriers with 4G LTE:
Hong Kong: SmarTone,
Japan: KDDI, SoftBank,
Singapore: M1, SingTel,
South Korea: KT, SK telecom
According to Jean Chua of CNBC, a "breakthrough" between selling the iPhone 5 in China is "imminent" with a partnership with China Mobile, the country's largest mobile carrier. Chua added that the reason why the iPhones have not been present in the communist country is because of "incompatible" technology. China Mobile's frequency mainly uses 3G networks.
However, other reports have contradicted those claims, such as Nomura analyst Danny Chu.
He said, "Contrary to some media reports' suggestions, the initial version of iPhone 5 does not work on TD-LTE technology (4G technology adopted by China Mobile)...As the new iPhone is not compatible with China Mobile's 3G (TD-SCDMA) or 4G (TD-LTE) technologies, it can only operate on 2G networks of China Mobile...Until Apple launches an iPhone that is compatible with TD-SCDMA and TD-LTE, we continue to believe China Mobile is reluctant to commit to an iPhone partnership agreement."
For Singapore, according to The News Tribe, reports indicate prices - without contract - is S$948 for 16GB version; S$1,088 for 32GB model, and S$1,238 for 64GB version - which in US dollars will be $772, $886, and $1,008 respectively for the three storage versions.
For India, as reported by CIOL, Gartner India's Principal Research analyst Anshul Gupta said, "I think it should be available in India by the fourth quarter of 2012. Though there is no confirmation on pricing I would expect it to be at the high end of approximately $800+."
As the iPhone 5 is following the same price as the iPhone 4S in the US and UK, the 16GB in India could start at Rs. 44,500.
For a full recap from Apple's live press conference on the iPhone 5, click here.
Latinos Post has helped define and break down the terms of the iPhone 5, such as Retina Display, GB, mAh, and Lightning, click here to view.