Apple said Monday it would start selling the iPhone 4 in 17 additional countries by the end of the week, bringing the total to 22.

The latest Apple smartphone would go on sale Friday in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. The iPhone 4 is currently available in France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Apple sells the iPhone 4 for $199 for the 16-GB model and $299 for the 32-GB model with a two-year service contract from carriers in the five countries where the device is currently available. The company did not say whether pricing would remain the same in the upcoming rollout. Apple plans to add more countries this year.

Initial sales of the iPhone 4 have been strong. The company reported selling more than 1.7 million units during the first three days after its release June 24. During the fiscal quarter ended June 26, Apple reported a 61% increase in iPhone sales year to year to 8.4 million units, most of them older iPhone models.

How well the iPhone 4 does will depend on whether potential buyers accept Apple's fix for what industry observers see as a design flaw in the antenna that has resulted in dropped calls when users hold the phone in particular way.

While Apple has never acknowledged that the iPhone 4 is flawed, chief executive Steve Jobs this month told a hastily called news conference that the company would offer free covers, called "bumpers," for the iPhone 4. Covering the phone has been shown to prevent the dropped calls.

Nevertheless, Apple executives say iPhone 4 sales have shown no signs of slowing. Asked during a conference call whether the antenna problem could have an impact on sales, Tim Cook, Apple's chief operating officer, told financial analysts last week, "We are selling every unit we can make."