Apple and China Mobile sign major iPhone deal

Apple has signed a deal to bring its iPhone to China Mobile – the world’s largest carrier.

China Mobile has more than 760 million subscribers and was one of three networks to be awarded China’s first 4G licenses earlier this month.

Apple has been looking to boost its sales in China, the world’s largest smartphone market, but has struggled amid growing competition from rivals.

The latest deal is expected to help it increase its market share.

“China is an extremely important market for Apple,” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said in a statement.

“Our partnership with China Mobile presents us the opportunity to bring iPhone to the customers of the world’s largest network.”

Earlier this year, Tim Cook said he expected China to replace North America as Apple’s largest source of revenue. The iPhone is the firm’s most important product in terms of earnings power.

China two other major phone carriers, China Unicom and China Telecom, already offer iPhones to their subscribers.

Apple has signed a deal to bring its iPhone to China Mobile

China is the world’s biggest smartphone-using country, with 1.2 billion users.

Chinese sales of previous iPhone models have slumped recently, as consumers have turned to cheaper rival handsets from Samsung, and domestic Chinese developers.

China’s three bestselling smartphone makers are Samsung, Lenovo and Coolpad, according to a recent report by the consultants IDC.

Apple’s sales have also been impacted by the fact that unlike in developed markets, many phone carriers in emerging markets do not subsidies smartphones.

That means that subscribers have to pay the full amount for the phone upfront, making Apple’s products relatively expensive for some buyers.

In an attempt to take on the low-cost rivals Apple unveiled a relatively cheaper version of the iPhone, the 5c, earlier this year.

Analysts said the firm was hoping that a cheaper handset combined with a deal with the biggest mobile carrier in the world may help it take on rivals.

However, Apple is yet to announce how much Chinese customers will have to pay for the iphone 5s and 5c models sold via China Mobile.

Nevertheless, analysts say the deal has huge potential. Cantor Fitzgerald Research estimates that Apple could sell 24 million iPhones next year to China Mobile customers alone.

Apple sold 102.4 million iPhones globally in the nine months to September this year.

The iPhone 5s and 5c will be available to China Mobile subscribers from January 17th.

jGSOB1DAmiU
Nancy Clayson

Nancy is a young, full of life lady who joined the team shortly after the BelleNews site started to run. She is focused on bringing up to light all the latest news from the technology industry. In her opinion the hi-tech expresses the humanity intellectual level. Nancy is an active person; she enjoys sports and delights herself in doing gardening in her spare time, as well as reading, always searching for new topics for her articles.

Recent Posts

White House 2024: Voter Fraud Claims Flood Social Media

Misleading allegations, rumours and outright lies about voting and fraud are flooding online spaces in…

1 day ago

Spain: At Least 158 Killed In The Country’s Worst Flooding Disaster

At least 158 people have died in Spain's worst flooding disaster in generations. On October…

4 days ago

Russia Fines Google $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, Surpassing Global GDP

Google has been fined two undecillion (a two followed by 36 zeroes) roubles by a…

4 days ago

Financing Your Home Remodel: 7 Tips for Success

Embarking on a home remodel is an exciting journey, promising enhanced comfort, increased property value,…

2 weeks ago

Donald Trump Serves Up McDonald’s Fries While Kamala Harris Celebrates 60th Birthday with Church Choir

The US presidential candidates continued to campaign across key swing states on October 20. Footage…

2 weeks ago

America PAC: Elon Musk Promises to Award $1M Each Day to Swing States Voters

Elon Musk has said he will give away $1 million a day to a registered…

2 weeks ago