Now available in 31 countries; 70 more to go by year’s end

Sep 28, 2012 11:23 GMT  ·  By

Since September 14, Apple fans in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK have been able to pre-order, or buy an iPhone 5 outright. Today, Apple is expanding this opportunity to several new territories.

In accordance with Apple’s press release touting sales of five million units in the first weekend, iPhone 5 “will be available in 22 more countries on September 28 and more than 100 countries by the end of the year.”

Those 22 countries include Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

By our calculations, Apple still has about 70 more countries to go if it’s going to meet its self-imposed goal of selling the handset in “over 100 countries” before the clock strikes 12 on New Year’s Eve.

Needless to point out, this marks the iPhone’s fastest international rollout since the first model was introduced by Steve Jobs five years ago.

“Demand for iPhone 5 has been incredible and we are working hard to get an iPhone 5 into the hands of every customer who wants one as quickly as possible,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

“While we have sold out of our initial supply, stores continue to receive iPhone 5 shipments regularly and customers can continue to order online and receive an estimated delivery date. We appreciate everyone’s patience and are working hard to build enough iPhone 5s for everyone.”

iPhone 5 is the thinnest and, by far, the lightest smartphone ever made by Apple. It features a redesigned aluminum unibody enclosure, a new 4-inch Retina display, an Apple-designed A6 chip, fast wireless technology, and comes pre-installed with iOS 6.



The phone ships with the new mini dock connector and Apple EarPods.