Singaporeans will be among the first to get their hands on the

Singaporeans will be among the first to get their hands on the new iPhone 5 – when it goes on sale next Friday.

Singapore is one of the nine countries or territories where the phone will be made available on 21 September. The others are Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

A week later, iPhone 5 will go on sale in 22 more countries, including Italy, Poland and Spain.

Touted as the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever, iPhone 5 boasts of a bigger 4-inch screen, measured diagonally.

Apple said this creates room for another row of icons on the screen and improves the appearance of anything shot in widescreen.

Previous iPhone models carried 3.5-inch screens.

At its launch, Apple’s senior vice president, Phil Schiller, said: “The new iPhone 5 is just 7.6mm thin. That’s 18 per cent thinner than the iPhone 4S and best of all, it’s the world’s thinnest smartphone.”

In another big change, the iPhone 5 will come with the capability to connect to the fastest new wireless data networks in the US and overseas.

All three telcos in Singapore – SingTel, M1 and StarHub – have announced that they will offer the new iPhone 5 from 21 September.

Singtel and M1 have also unveiled their price plans to go along with the new smartphone.

The iPhone 5 is a 4G-enabled smartphone.

This means customers can enjoy the faster 4G services when they sign up with the telcos.

Source AP