KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 ― The iPhone 12 series is now available in first wave countries including the US, UK, Australia and Singapore. Unfortunately, there’s still no sign of it for the local Malaysian market.
Right after last week’s keynote, Apple has released the official iPhone 12 Malaysian pricing but stopped short of revealing its availability date. You can already see “coming soon” teasers from our local telcos and authorised Apple retailers including the official Apple flagship store on Lazada.
Last year, the iPhone 11 series was the fastest release yet as Malaysians could buy the latest iPhone just a week after Singapore. Since the wait is only seven days, there’s very little reason why anyone would pay a premium for an import set from our neighbour down south as you can pay less for an official unit in Malaysia.
So the biggest question is, when can you buy one?
At the moment, all four iPhone 12 models including the iPhone 12 mini and the iPhone 12 Pro Max have passed our Sirim certification. All models support 5G and it is listed with both 700MHz and 3500MHz bands. Another new Apple device with the model MZ20-FT012-01 with NFC has also passed Sirim’s certification and we think that this could be the new MagSafe charger accessory.
With the Sirim certification, we now know that Apple has gotten the necessary clearance to sell the new devices. So what else is causing the delay?
From the looks of it, the Cupertino company could still be deciding on its second wave of release. After all, we are still in a pandemic which can cause disruption to logistics. On top of that, this year’s iPhone launch was already delayed by a month compared to its typical September window.
If they were to follow last year’s timeline, we should be able to buy the new iPhone as early as next Friday, October 30, 2020. But for that to happen, pre-orders should have started yesterday but there’s still no announcement from any parties including our telcos.
So far, the closest indication is by Switch as they have posted a fresh new teaser that says “soon” next to a phone emoji. We think Apple might reveal its second wave of iPhone 12 releases within the next couple of days after they are done with the first wave country launches. Realistically, we think the earliest we can get one locally is around the first few weeks of November and the latest is by December to capture the year end shopping season.
If you’re thinking of buying an iPhone 12, are you going to buy an import set or would you rather wait for a couple more weeks to get a local set? ― SoyaCincau
