IT'S a festival for Shanghai Apple fans this month with the arrival of a second Apple retail store and array of awaited products: the iPad, a new lineup of iPods, and probably iPhone 4, the most popular smart phone in the world.

China Unicom, Apple's domesticpartner, announced yesterday it will start accepting pre-orders for iPhone 4 online today online and in its local outlets.

People can get the iPhone 4 16G (gigabyte) through a deposit of 5,880 yuan (US$864) as an upfront fee with a two-year contract.

The 32G will cost 6,999 yuan for the same two-year contract, according to China Unicom.

Other iPhone 4 packages start from a 3,899 yuan deposit for the 16G model and 4,799 yuan for the 32G model.

China Unicom and Apple China each declined to reveal the release day for the iPhone 4. But sources said the smart phone will be available as early as next week and no later than October 1.

Today, Apple will start selling iPads in its local retail store in Lujiazui district, authorized reseller stores and local BestBuy stores, with a starting price of 3,988 yuan for a 16G Wi-Fi model.

On Tuesday, US-based Apple will release a new family of iPods, which were introduced in the United States on September 1, a source told Shanghai Daily.

The new iPods will debut in a new Apple retail store on Huaihai Road, said the source who declined to be identified.

One-fifth of phones are smart phones now, which feature mobile operating systems and applications. That proportion will grow to 50 percent by 2015, analysts say.

• arrival [ə´raivəl] n.到达；到达的人(物) (初中英语单词)
• domestic [də´mestik] a.家庭的；本国的 (初中英语单词)
• partner [´pɑ:tnə] n.伙伴 v.同....合作 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• deposit [di´pɔzit] vt.存放，存储 n.存款 (初中英语单词)
• release [ri´li:s] vt&n.释放；放松；赦免 (初中英语单词)
• available [ə´veiləbəl] a.可用的；有效的 (初中英语单词)
• proportion [prə´pɔ:ʃən] n.比率 vt.使成比例 (初中英语单词)
• festival [´festivəl] n.节日；庆祝；欢庆 (高中英语单词)
• retail [´ri:teil, ri´teil] n.&a.&v.零售(商品的) (英语四级单词)