Despite some of the “death grip” controversy, the iPhone 4 has still managed to do quite well for itself in the United States. It took a little longer than we would have liked, but now the latest iPhone is ready to head north of the border to Canada this Friday. And they’re offering it unlocked too.

The Apple iPhone 4 will be available through the three big carriers — Telus, Bell, and Rogers — as well as some of their smaller subsidiaries like Virgin and Fido. More likely than not, the three-year contract price for the 16GB and 32GB models of the iPhone 4 will be like the launch prices of the iPhone 3GS: $199/$299.  However, CBC is also reporting that the iPhone 4 will also be made available in unlocked form outside of a contractual agreement. As with all unlocked phones, you’ll be paying a premium. A 16GB iPhone 4 will be $659 and the iPhone 4 32GB will be $759.

To put that in perspective, the iPhone 3GS 8GB can currently be acquired in an unlocked state for $549. It can only be expected that the iPhone 4 will cost more than that. The only question that remains is whether you want to pay the unlocked premium and spare the shackles of a contract, or if you want to ink a new agreement and get a substantially subsidized price.