Tim Cook Asked About Larger iPhone at China Mobile Launch

Thursday January 16, 2014 9:47 pm PST by Husain Sumra

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.

BeJbFfPCQAAdEYk.jpg-large 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."

Having fun in Beijing at the iPhone launch with China Mobile! pic.twitter.com/AqoqLbbeO7 — Tim Cook (@tim_cook) January 17, 2014

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.

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Top Rated Comments

Nykwil

162 months ago

A room full of iPhones and yet the one photo that counts, taken with a potato.

Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)

AngerDanger

162 months ago

This year there will be a 5-5.5" iPad with LTE. Unlike other iPads, it will have an earpiece and a vibrate motor.

Like other iPads, out of the box it will not be able to make cellular audio calls or send SMS. This enables Apple to offer it at a much lower price than the iPhone because:
- Apple won't have to pay the carriers the high margins they demand
[SHORTENED]

Yes! Another analyst! :p

Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)

roland.g

162 months ago

I have no desire to use Android, however, I do like the form factor of the Galaxy series phones, S3, S4, and would like to see the iPhone 6 get that sort of size.

Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)

jkkool

162 months ago

This year there will be a 5-5.5" iPad with LTE. Unlike other iPads, it will have an earpiece and a vibrate motor.

Like other iPads, out of the box it will not be able to make cellular audio calls or send SMS. This enables Apple to offer it at a much lower price than the iPhone because:
- Apple won't have to pay the carriers the high margins they demand
- Apple won't to pay Qualcomm for the voice features to be enabled on their chipset, which makes it cheaper to produce.
(See the difference between the iPad and iPhone for the scale of these costs)

Even if it cost as much as the iPad mini 7.9" (which it won't), it's half the price of an iPhone. iPads are available in much wider distribution channels than iPhones, and they are not locked to a carrier.

FaceTime Audio and iMessage are Apple's solution to phone calls and SMS. And their are plenty of solutions in the App Store that give you a regular phone number and SMS.

Even carriers don't see a future for traditional voice - it isn't part of the LTE standard as there are a plethora of existing VoIP standards - almost all of which work today as apps on iOS! Carriers have been terrified of this impending moment - they become a "dumb pipe" - truly commoditized.

The new iPad's 1356 x 1024 resolution is exactly half the new 12.9" iPad Pro (2712 x 2048) Only one new layout is required to support both the iPad Pro and iPad 5"

Legacy iPad and iPhone Apps Run Letterboxed with minimal border:
iPad Non-retina = 1024 x 768 = 166 pix top and bottom
iPhone 4 retina = 1136 x 640 = 110 pix top and bottom

The new iPad isn't the solution for everyone yet, but its amazing price (16GB ~US$399) for something that isn't last year's model, sold through retail channels, not carriers, and larger screen will drive phenomenal sales.

In less than 4 years the iPhone and iPod touch will be discontinued. The iPad 4" LTE will replace the iPhone. The iPad 4" WiFi will replace the iPod touch.

iPad is what Steve Jobs intended the iPhone to be named in the first place.

We weren't really ready for that as they had to be named relative to things we already knew - a phone (iPhone) and and iPod (iPod touch).