China Mobile to Officially Begin iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c Sales on January 17

Apple and China Mobile have officially announced today that the iPhone 5s and 5c will be available at the carrier's stores as well as Apple retail stores across mainland China beginning January 17, 2014, with pre-registration for both devices beginning on December 25, 2013.

china_mobile_subsidary_iphone5c5s

“Apple’s iPhone is very much loved by millions of customers around the world. We know there are many China Mobile customers and potential new customers who are anxiously awaiting the incredible combination of iPhone on China Mobile’s leading network. We are delighted that iPhone on China Mobile will support our 4G/TD-LTE and 3G/TD-SCDMA networks, providing customers with high-speed mobile service,” said Xi Guohua, China Mobile Chairman.

“Apple has enormous respect for China Mobile and we are excited to begin working together. China is an extremely important market for Apple and our partnership with China Mobile presents us the opportunity to bring iPhone to the customers of the world's largest network,” said Tim Cook, Apple CEO. “iPhone customers in China are an enthusiastic and rapidly growing group, and we can’t think of a better way to welcome in the Chinese New Year than getting an iPhone into the hands of every China Mobile customer who wants one.”

China Mobile is currently the world's largest carrier with over 760 million subscribers and is expected to bring many new customers to Apple, significantly increasing the company's presence in 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.

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Top Rated Comments

Steviejobz Avatar
151 months ago
To my fellow Apple shareholders:
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
proline Avatar
151 months ago
Pretty hard to call this anything but good news for Apple, but hey, this is MacRumors. Haters, what do you have for us?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tbrand7 Avatar
151 months ago
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
unlinked Avatar
151 months ago
Boy is that a lot of new potential customers.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Roller Avatar
151 months ago
What should happen and what will happen are two different things. AAPL should be way up tomorrow but knowing Wall Street they'll find something negative about it to keep the stock down.

I'd love for AAPL to go up, but I suspect that this deal, which was widely assumed to be a matter of time, has already been built into the stock price.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rogifan Avatar
151 months ago
I expect a healthy 3% jump in Apple's stock tomorrow.

What should happen and what will happen are two different things. AAPL should be way up tomorrow but knowing Wall Street they'll find something negative about it to keep the stock down.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)