Tim Cook Asked About Larger iPhone at China Mobile Launch
After nearly six years of negotiations, the iPhone is finally available on China Mobile, which is the largest mobile carrier in the world with around 763 million subscribers. Apple CEO Tim Cook was on hand with China Mobile Chairman Xi Guohua at the carrier's headquarters store in Beijing at launch, according to Bloomberg.
Tim Cook with China Mobile's Xi Guohua and a customer. Image via Eunice Yoon
Cook handed out autographed iPhones to the first few customers before he once again praised Apple's new cooperation with China Mobile.
“Today is just the beginning of China Mobile and Apple coming together to deliver the best experience in the world,” Cook said as a few dozen people came in to look at the iPhones on display. China Mobile said Jan. 15 it signed a multiyear agreement with Apple containing “broad potential” for future cooperation.
Cook was soon asked whether the next iPhone would launch with a bigger screen, and responded that Apple does not like talking about future projects, but that they are working on "great things" and want to keep them secret because "you will be so much happier when you see it."
China Mobile is focused on attracting premium customers for the iPhone, Canalys analyst Nicole Peng told
Bloomberg, because the carrier is concerned the high subsidy on the iPhone would impact their profitability. Fellow Chinese carrier China Telecom reported a 10 percent drop in net income in the first year of offering the iPhone, largely because of the higher subsidy.
On January 15, China Mobile said that 1 million iPhones had been pre-ordered in advance of launch. Estimates of Apple's potential iPhone sales have varied from 10-30 million units, with some claiming demand is lower due to satisfaction with China's other two carriers China Telecom and China Unicom as well as waning interest in iPhone because of increased smartphone choices in the country.
Popular Stories
Apple hasn't updated the Apple TV 4K since 2022, and 2025 was supposed to be the year that we got a refresh. There were rumors suggesting Apple would release the new Apple TV before the end of 2025, but it looks like that's not going to happen now.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said several times across 2024 and 2025 that Apple would...
You'd think things would be slowing down heading into the holidays, but this week saw a whirlwind of Apple leaks and rumors while Apple started its next cycle of betas following last week's release of iOS 26.2 and related updates.
This week also saw the release of a new Apple Music integration with ChatGPT, so read on below for all the details on this week's biggest stories!
Top Stories
i...
Next year's iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max will be equipped with under-screen Face ID, and the front camera will be moved to the top-left corner of the screen, according to a new report from The Information's Wayne Ma and Qianer Liu.
As a result of these changes, the report said the iPhone 18 Pro models will not have a pill-shaped Dynamic Island cutout at the top of the screen....
The European Commission today praised the interoperability changes that Apple is introducing in iOS 26.3, once again crediting the Digital Markets Act (DMA) with bringing "new opportunities" to European users and developers.
The Digital Markets Act requires Apple to provide third-party accessories with the same capabilities and access to device features that Apple's own products get. In iOS...
Since the beginning of December, Apple has been pushing iPhone users who opted to stay on iOS 18 to install iOS 26 instead. Apple started by making the iOS 18 upgrades less visible, and has now transitioned to making new iOS 18 updates unavailable on any device capable of running iOS 26.
If you have an iPhone 11 or later, Apple is no longer offering new versions of iOS 18, even though there...
Earlier this month, Apple released iOS 26.2, following more than a month of beta testing. It is a big update, with many new features and changes for iPhones.
iOS 26.2 adds a Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics in Apple Music, and more. Below, we have highlighted a total of eight new features.
Liquid Glass Slider on Lock Screen
A new slider in the Lock...
Apple is significantly increasing its reliance on Samsung for iPhone memory as component prices surge, according to The Korea Economic Daily.
Apple is said to be expanding the share of iPhone memory it sources from Samsung due to rapidly rising memory prices. The shift is expected to result in Samsung supplying roughly 60% to 70% of the low-power DRAM used in the iPhone 17, compared with a...
Apple's first foldable iPhone, rumored for release next year, may turn out to be smaller than most people imagine, if a recent report is anything to go by. According to The Information, the outer display on the book-style device will measure just 5.3 inches – that's smaller than the 5.4-inch screen on the iPhone mini, a line Apple discontinued in 2022 due to poor sales. The report has led ...
