In a Tuesday announcement, Apple said that the company's latest iPhone - the iPhone 5 - will hit the Israel markets on Friday, December 14, when the handset will be launched worldwide in as many as 50 countries.

According to the Apple announcement, the iPhone 5 - which is currently being sold in 47 countries - will become available in Israel from the country's leading major mobile carriers. The smartphone is already being sold at private stores for approximately NIS 5,000.

Along with Israel, the 49 other countries which will start selling the iPhone 5 from December 14 include Brazil, Russia, South Korea, and Taiwan. The expanded availability of the handset in an increasing number of countries is an indication that Apple is clearly on track to make the smartphone available for purchase in 100 countries by the end of 2012.

The somewhat elongated iPhone 5 - which was first announced officially in September, and touted and the `thinnest' smartphone in the world - is a 4-inch handset which boasts quite a few significant advancements over its predecessor, the iPhone 4S.

One of the most significant changes coming aboard the 112-gram iPhone 5 is the handset's screen, which boasts the high-quality `Retina' display technology. Moreover, the increased size of the handset - powered by Apple's new iOS 6 version - allows for the creation of space enough for five rows of icons rather than the four icon rows of the iPhone 4S.