Apple said it will start selling its third generation iPad in China from 20 July which will be available through Apple’s online store, select Apple authorised resellers.
The new iPad has been on sale in Apple stores since March in the US, and has been rolled out in countries such as Canada, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, the UK and Hong Kong.
The new iPad release in the US was the first major media event of Apple, following the death of its founder Steve Jobs, when Frost & Sullivan told Reuters the new product will be "critical" to the company if it is to continue to dominate the global tablet market.
In China, Apple’s second-biggest market after the US, the new iPad will be available for purchase through the Apple online stores and authorised resellers.
The iPad features a new Retina display, Apple’s new A5X chip with quad-core graphics and a 5 megapixel iSight camera with optics for capturing photos and 1080p HD video.
Additionally, iPad is available at a starting price of $499, similar to that offered in the US with ranges to $829, depending on memory capacity.
Apple has an astonishing 63% marketshare, selling more than 10 times as many tablets as the next best competitor Samsung, according to research by NPD.
Apple has sold 13.6 million tablets in the first quarter of 2012.
Apple has earlier dropped the price of its predecessor, iPad 2, to $399.
The release comes after Apple paid $60m earlier this month to settle an iPad trademark dispute with Chinese firm Proview.
Apple is also said to launch iPad Mini, a smaller iPad, by the end of the year.
