Chinese consumers scrambling for Apple’s latest must-have mobile devices, the iPhone 5 and the iPad Mini, will finally get their chance when the smartphone and the 7-inch tablet arrive in the country in December.
The WiFi-enabled iPad Mini, Apple’s first foray into the 7-inch tablet space, lands on store shelves in China Dec. 7, while the iPhone 5, Apple’s latest iteration of its popular handset, arrives a week later. In addition, the fourth-generation iPad with Retina display will also be available in China the same day as the iPad Mini, according to Apple.
The iPad Mini and the new fourth-generation iPad with Retina display are currently available in 42 countries, and iPhone 5 is available in 47 countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom.
In China, the iPad Mini, fourth-generation iPad and iPhone 5 will be available through the Apple Online Store, select Apple authorized resellers and by reservation from Apple retail stores, the company noted.
The iPad Mini is a new iPad design that is 23 percent thinner and 53 percent lighter than the third-generation iPad, and features a 7.9-inch touch-screen display, FaceTime HD and 5 megapixel iSight cameras, and offers 10 hours of battery life.
The fourth-generation iPad features a 9.7-inch Retina display, a new Apple-designed A6X processor and FaceTime HD camera. Both the iPad Mini and the fourth-generation iPad come with iOS 6, the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system. The devices also include more than 200 new features such as Shared Photo Streams, an in-house mapping application, Passbook organization, and even more Siri features and languages.
The iPhone 5, which also comes with iOS 6, has been redesigned to feature a larger, 4-inch Retina display, an Apple-designed A6 chip, a thinner and lighter design and improved cameras.
Earlier this week, the company announced its iMac all-in-one (AIO) desktop would be available starting today. The iMac includes 8GB of 1,600MHz memory, a 1-terabyte hard drive, third-generation quad-core Intel Core i5 processors that can be upgraded to Core i7, and the latest Nvidia GeForce graphics processors.
The 21.5-inch iMac will be available through the Apple Online Store, Apple’s retail stores and select authorized resellers. The 27-inch iMac will be available for order through the Apple Online Store and will begin shipping in December.
The 21.5-inch iMac is available with a 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.2GHz and GeForce GT 640M for $1,299, and with a 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6GHz and GeForce GT 650M for $1,499.
The 27-inch iMac is available with a 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6GHz and GeForce GTX 660M for $1,799, and with a 3.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6GHz and GeForce GTX 675MX for $1,999.