Apple and China Mobile have not yet finalized a deal that will allow the world’s largest carrier to sell the iPhone, reports Reuters. Earlier in December, a report from The Wall Street Journal suggested that negotiations were all but complete, with the two companies on track for a release sometime around December 18, the expected date for the carrier’s 4G launch.
A China Mobile store promoting Apple products last week
While China Mobile did launch its 4G network earlier today, bringing 4G speeds to its more than 700 million customers, there has been no sign of an iPhone deal.
Xi Guohua, the chairman of the world’s largest mobile phone carrier, said on Wednesday morning that his company had no announcement to make on any deal to carry Apple’s smartphones. Xi was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Guangzhou, a southern city of China.
Multiple signs of an approaching deal between the two companies have popped up during the final months of 2013, with Apple receiving licensing needed to operate on China Mobile’s TD-LTE standard in September and releasing the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c with TD-LTE support.
Though a deal has not been struck, it is clearly in the final stages as China Mobile has been accepting iPhone pre-orders and heavily promoting both the iPad and the iPhone in stores across China.
China Mobile is expected to bring millions of new customers to Apple, significantly increasing the company's presence in China. While Apple currently has deals with smaller carriers China Unicom and China Telecom, both carriers combined have fewer subscribers than China Mobile.
Apple's stock price is currently down nearly 1.8 percent following the lack of a deal announcement.
Monday September 29, 2025 9:31 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple's annual iPhone event is in the rearview mirror, but rumors suggest the company plans to release a handful of additional products before the year ends.
Will there be another Apple event this October? We discuss the possibility below.
Apple in October
Apple's most recent October events were in 2021 and 2023.
In 2022 and 2024, Apple did not host an October event. Instead, it...
Tuesday September 30, 2025 6:40 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps.
Apple recently revealed that the feature would soon be available in North Dakota, and starting today, the feature has officially gone...
Tuesday September 30, 2025 8:39 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
An apparent unboxing video for an unannounced iPad Pro with the M5 chip was uploaded to YouTube today by Russian channel Wylsacom.
The same YouTube account leaked the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 chip before it was announced by Apple last year, so this is likely a legitimate leak.
Based on the box shown in the video, this appears to be a 13-inch iPad Pro with an M5 chip, 256GB of...
Tuesday September 30, 2025 3:48 pm PDT by Juli Clover
The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has seemingly confirmed Apple's work on an updated version of the Vision Pro headset.
One of several documents the FCC shared today references an Apple-designed "Head Mounted Device" with a model number of A3416. An included image confirms the device is a Vision Pro.
The FCC's uploads are transmission tests, SAR test reports, and...
Monday September 29, 2025 10:12 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today released iOS 26.0.1 and iPadOS 26.0.1, the first updates to the iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 operating systems that came out earlier this week.
The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update.
According to Apple's release notes for the update, iOS 26.0.1 addresses a bug that could cause aberrations in...
Tuesday September 30, 2025 1:58 pm PDT by Juli Clover
The United States Federal Communications Commission has confirmed Apple's work on a new version of the MacBook Pro and several other products, leaking details on the devices ahead of launch.
The FCC published documents that reference model numbers that do not correspond with existing devices. A3434, for example, references an unreleased MacBook Pro, while other numbers are likely for...
Sunday September 28, 2025 2:08 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple's next MacBook Pro models will enter mass production soon, according to the latest information shared by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said he continues to believe the new MacBook Pro models will be released at some point between late 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, meaning they should be available to order by March at the latest.
Apple often...
Wednesday October 1, 2025 8:27 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
A handful of upcoming Apple products leaked yesterday, through a combination of YouTube videos out of Russia and U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) documents that were released, despite Apple's confidentiality requests.
The leaked products include an iPad Pro with an M5 chip, as well as updated MacBook Pro and Apple Vision Pro models. All of these devices had already been rumored...
Sunday September 28, 2025 1:30 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple is preparing to release iOS 26.0.1, according to a private account on X with a proven track record of sharing information about future iOS versions.
The account initially said iOS 26.0.1 would have a build number of 23A350, but they now expect the update to have a build number of 23A355. This suggests that the software update will include more bug fixes or changes than initially...
Thursday September 25, 2025 1:11 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple is developing an all-new operating system codenamed "Charismatic," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Apple smart home hub concept based on rumors
This is likely Apple's long-rumored "homeOS" operating system.
In a report last month, Gurman said both Apple's rumored smart home hub in 2026 and tabletop robot in 2027 will run the new operating system. He said the software platform ...
Doing business with China is usually not a great deal.
We give them our know how and technology and they give us cheat labor. I think we get the short end of the deal.
Without the deal with China, those poor people in the US will be living in the hell, not be able to afford anything. Thank China so that 95% people in the US can afford our computers, cellphones, cloths, furniture, dishes, etc...
The headline suggests an editorial opinion. If you want to be objective, what do you think about "Apple, China Mobile Negotiations Continue for iPhone Deal"?
If any expectation of a deal was set, my understanding is that timeframe was set by a news organization -- not the parties involved.
Also, the Apple stock price dip may reflect a host of other issues besides the China Mobile deal. While there may be a correlation, there's no verifiable indication of causation. I'd recommend, "Apple's stock price is currently down nearly 1.8 percent."
To be fair, the stock recently shot up (to just over $570) partly on the news that a China Mobile deal was so close, with a date of around today given. So this is just setting it back to how it was before. However, if the deal is imminent, why go back so far? :confused: It is confusing to me too. It makes some sense, but still not really logical.
So Wall Street got excited earlier this month over a deal that was never announced and stock went up 10%?
