South Africa to get new iPhone 6s on 24 October

South African Apple fans can look forward to getting their hands on Apple’s new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus on 24 October, a fair bit earlier than the region usually receives the devices after they’re announced.

Apple on Monday announced that the new devices would arrive in 36 more territories during the month of October, a far faster rollout of the new devices than has been the case with previous handsets like the iPhone 5S, 5C and 4S.

The 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and its larger sibling the phablet-sized 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus will be available in a total of 69 countries and territories by the end of the October and in more than 115 countries by the end of the year.

Both phones boast Retina HD displays, new A8 processors, 64-bit desktop-class architecture and updated cameras.

The new handsets include the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system iOS 8, which includes new features for messaging, browsing images and for the first time in Apple’s history, the ability to install third-party keyboards.

Apple’s planned rollout dates are as follows:

• Friday, October 17: China, India and Monaco
• Thursday, October 23: Israel
• Friday, October 24: Czech Republic, French West Indies, Greenland, Malta, Poland, Reunion Island and South Africa
• Thursday, October 30: Bahrain and Kuwait
• Friday, October 31: Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Guam, Hungary, Iceland, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macau, Macedonia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, South Korea, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Thailand

Both of the new devices are available in gold, silver or space grey in 16GB, 64GB and 128GB models. The devices are already available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, the UK, the US and the US Virgin Islands.

The new devices were announced last month alongside the Apple Watch, the company’s first foray into the smartwatch arena. South African users looking to upgrade an existing iPhone can get cashback on their existing devices from local iStores. The latest additions to the iPhone family broke records for opening weekend sales.