Apple Watch Series 3 with cellular capabilities is coming to two new locations, Hong Kong and Singapore, Apple has confirmed.
In Singapore, the Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE will be carried by Singtel, while those in Hong Kong will be able to choose between 1O1O and csl3 as their carrier. Apple has updated its website to show the addition of the two new markets, which brings the total number of markets with Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE to 12.
Pre-orders will start in both markets on February 2, with orders set to arrive on February 9 when the service officially launches. The LTE Apple Watch Series 3 will retail for S$598 ($457) in Singapore and HK$3,188 ($407) in Hong Kong.
The arrival of the Apple Watch 3 with LTE in Hong Kong is particularly interesting since, last year, mainland China blocked the LTE feature on the watch after brief availability with one carrier due to security concerns. That means that, for most people in China, LTE connectivity on the new Apple Watch is dead.
“Industry analysts say the suspension likely stemmed from Chinese government security concerns to do with tracking users of the device,” reported The Wall Street Journal. The reason for this was Apple’s new eSIM, which works differently to a traditional SIM card.
Apple products have proven to be very popular in both the Hong Kong and Singapore market, although one recent report suggests that pre-orders for the iPhone X were not as strong as expected in Singapore.
