China Mobile will launch a 2-hit combo of 4G service and iPhones 5S and 5C
China Mobile just announced its plans to launch Apple iPhone 5S and Apple iPhone 5C with its 4G service on December 18. As China is one of the biggest markets for the smartphone industry, there’s no surprise that smartphone giants such as Apple are targeting that part of the world. In fact, Apple can only win by getting its devices on the largest carrier in the world when it comes to the number of subscriptions- over 700 million which is at least 10% of potential iPhone customers. Apparently, China Mobile is giving Apple quite a boost as it has the wealthier subscriber base.
Nevertheless, China Mobile promises to launch a 4G mobile service during the 4G Global Conference that is scheduled for next month. The 4G network is going to use the Chinese flavour of LTE that is also known as TD-LTE since the current carrier technology status is incompatible when it comes to existing 4G LTE networks that are already patented. Obviously, China is attempting to avoid payments to Qualcomm for that matter and that is a similar case to its 3G TD-SCDMA service. If they can avoid such payments and the 4G network is flawless, then why not?
That’s why, two months ago Apple’s products, iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C in particular, had to be tested and approved by the Chinese Telecom Equipment Certification Center (CTECC). The two iPhones went through the procedure of receiving TD-LTE support and now the handsets are amongst the very few devices that are capable of working on the new 4G network and, as a matter of fact, they are a part of the small minority licensed to do so. Apple’s iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C are now compatible with the service format and therefore set to go with the new China Mobile network, though the prices still haven’t been tipped.
Source: Applesider
