Apple’s iPhone 5S, 5C launching in South Africa 15 November

Live in South Africa and fancy upgrading your iPhone? Then you’re in luck. The iPhone 5S and 5C are both available in the country from Friday 15 November. You can’t purchase one yet of course, but you can “register interest” on the SA iStore if you wish. Enter your name, email, mobile number and pick your nearest branch. When the iPhones are available, presumably you’ll be one of the first to know. Currently there’s no price set for either, but expect the phones when offered by Vodacom (the country’s biggest telecom who usually gets the latest phones first) to cost between R8 000-R10 000.

The iPhone 5S is the “most forward-thinking smartphone in the world” and the 5C is “colourful”. So if those aren’t two reasons to drop thousands of Rands then we don’t know what is.

When the 5S and the 5C (which is basically the iPhone 5 in a colourful shell) launched last month, the world went insane and millions of people infected with the disease of Apple, rose up and stormed online and physical retailers in an effort to grab a new iDevice. The two new phones are selling “like hotcakes” in India said The Economic Times but despite success stories like this, Apples profit margin managed to slip 3%. Is it because Apple no longer releases innovative new products and simply rides off the back of Steve Jobs legacy? Or is it due to Android and Windows Phone slowly conquering the global market?

Whatever the answer, the iPhone 5S and 5C will hit South Africa almost a full two months after its US launch date of 20 September. So far, the only other country to get a confirmed 15 November release date is the Philippines. The prior iPhone 5S, 5C launch saw the “innovative” new phones launch in countries such as Colombia, Turkey and the UAE.