iPhone 5 officially announced for China

You'll read a lot of stories talking about who is winning the smartphone race in China. The statistics are helpful, but they don't always tell the whole picture when you consider factors in the market like product launches, network availability. The first quarter of 2013 should be the market's best indicator of where the major companies stand now that many have put their best players in the game.

Apple has passed the final hurdle and received approval from the Ministry of Industry and Technology of the People's Republic of China to sell the iPhone 5. Apple announced the iPhone 5 will be available on the Mainland by December 14 in a press release last Friday. As mentioned in previous posts, the new phone will be made available on China Unicom and China Telecom. However, the iPhone 5 remains unavailable for China's largest telecom, China Mobile, for now.

The iPhone is not the only Apple product to land in China this month. Chinese consumers will be able to get their hands on the iPad mini and the latest iPad one week before the iPhone 5 on December 7.

According to Apple, "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 US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the UK."

2012 has seen the iPhone 4S go up against the Samsung Galaxy S3 and smartphones from Lenovo, Nokia, and Xiaomi. That wasn't a very good "Apples" to apples comparison since the 4S was a 2011 produce. With the iPhone 5 soon to be officially available in China, Apple now has a phone with the specs to compete with the top smartphone manufacturers in the market, and we should get a better idea of how the company will do in one of the world's most important markets.

When deciding which phone is right for you, its important to think about what environment you want to join. If you use a lot of Microsoft or Google products, it might be worth checking out the Nokia 920 or Samsung Galaxy. But those already using a Mac or other Apple products such as iTunes, then the iPhone 5 is a nice complement.