China had been one of the few countries left with just one carrier offering the Apple iPhone. The exclusivity enjoyed by China Unicom will end on March 9th when the Apple iPhone 4S gets released on China Telecom. The second largest carrier in the country, China Telecom has millions of customers who have been waiting for Apple to release a version of its phone that would work on the carrier's proprietary CDMA network. While the launch could add a lot of new Apple iPhone users, it was not unexpected.
The Apple iPhone 4S
Apple is currently the fourth largest smartphone manufacturer in the country behind Nokia, Samsung and Huawei. The deal being offered by China Telecom will give customers a free 16GB Apple iPhone 4S with a signed contract. Morgan Stanley expects 40 million units of Apple's smartphone to be sold in China next year assuming that Apple can work out a deal with China Mobile. The world's largest carrier already has 10 million people on its network using the Apple iPhone even though the carrier doesn't officially carry the phone and users get 2G speeds because of a lack of compatibility between the unit and the carrier. With over 600 million China Mobile customers to sell its smartphone to, Apple has allegedly told the carrier that it would make a version of the iPhone for its TD-LTE 4G network.
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Apple iPhone sales in China had a rocky moment last month as the manufacturer halted sales of the device at its stores in the country. Fights had broken out among those waiting on line at one of the Apple Stores in China, to buy the Apple iPhone 4S on its launch for China Unicom. The phone as of now can only be bought online or through China Unicom retail locations.
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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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