MANILA, Philippines - Filipinos will get the iPhone 5 before Christmas.

On Monday, Apple announced that the iPhone 5 will be coming to 50 additional countries in December starting with South Korea this Friday, December 7 and the Philippines on December 14.

Other countries to get the iPhone on the 14th are Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, Grenada, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, Macedonia, Malaysia, Moldova, Montenegro, Panama, Paraguay, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

It will also be available on Friday, December 21 in Barbados, Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Egypt, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St.Vincent & the Grenadines, Tunisia, Uganda and Vietnam.

Apple unveiled the iPhone 5 last September 12, among the device's new features include a 4-inch retina, 16:9 retina display, LTE connectivity, a dual-core A6 chip and lightning connector.

As of posting representatives from both Smart and Globe were unable to comment officially on the matter. - Rappler.com