Mainland China is getting ready for this Friday’s launch of the iPhone 4S that will be available for a hefty 4,988 yuan—about 800 dollars—for the cheapest 16 gigabyte version.

The Siri voice assistant will not be available in Chinese at the device’s launch but will apparently be introduced later this year.

Currently only Apple and China Unicom will be stocking the new iPhone 4S but China Telecom may soon become the country’s second carrier to offer iPhone.
Since China Unicom and China Telecom use different wireless technologies, iPhone bought with China Unicom will not work with the other carrier.

Jefferies analyst Cynthia Meng said Monday that she expects China Telecom to start offering the iPhone 4S sometime in the first quarter.

(Via)