iPhone 4S to land in more countries come 11 November

Apple says that the latest iteration of its smash-hit smartphone, the iPhone 4S, will go on sale in more countries later in Asia, Europe and Central America later in November.

The Cupertiono-based tech giant says the phone will be available in Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Romania and South Korea from 11 November.

The 4S will be available for pre-order a week before then in these same countries with the exceptions of Albania, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malta, Montenegro and Panama.

It is Apple’s intention that the phone be available in 70 countries by the end of the year.

The iPhone 4S was launched earlier this year, just a day before Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died.

The company claims that it sold more than four-million iPhone 4S models in its first three days on the market. This after pre orders for the phone topped one-million in the first 24 hours of it being unveiled to the public.

The iPhone 4S comes in either black or white for a suggested retail price of US$199 for the 16GB model, US$299 for the 32GB model and US$399 for the new 64GB model.

Apple calls the 4S “the most amazing iPhone yet” and has packed it with a dual-core A5 chip, an all new camera with advanced optics; full 1080p HD resolution video recording; and intelligent voice assistant Siri™.

Since its release, however, the phone has been plagued with persistent reports of severe battery drain issues.

British newspaper The Guardian could not get any comment from the tech giant. It reports, however, that a number of users had been contacted by Apple, indicating that it was aware of the problem.

The Guardian suggests that the issue might be related to a bug in iOS5’s location services system.

Sales of the iPhone 4S, while prolific, have been slower than traders on Wall Street expected. This was reflected in the fact that the company’s stock slid more than six percent in the wake of a recent quarterly earnings conference call.

The third wave of iPhone 4S releases, which will see it arrive in countries like South Africa, will likely take place towards the end of November.