china unicom

The iPhone 5 is off to a strong start at its latest carrier.

After kicking off preorders for the new phone early yesterday, China Unicom took in more than 100,000 online reservations by 4 p.m. local time, Chinese news site Sina Tech said today.

China's second-largest carrier will officially launch the iPhone 5 on December 14, following a promise that it would offer the device to its subscribers by year's end.

Some of the early buyers liked the simple reservation process as well as the phone, Sina Tech reported. Customers are asked to fill in their … Read more

Apple's iPhone 5 is one step closer to launching in China.

The China Telecommunication Equipment Certification Center has approved the iPhone 5 for a "network access" license in the country. The license approval was discovered by The Wall Street Journal.

Apple is currently planning to launch the iPhone 5 on China Telecom and China Unicom networks. The company is reportedly hoping to bring the device to China Mobile, the country's largest carrier, but so far no deal has been announced.

Apple's approval comes about a month after another regulatory agency, China's State Radio Management, … Read more

China Telecom, that country's third-largest carrier, will start offering the iPhone 5 soon.

Apple's iPhone 5 is currently not available in China, but has been rumored to be coming to China Telecom for some time. According to the Wall Street Journal, which interviewed China Telecom chairman Wang Xiaochu today, the carrier will start selling Apple's handset in late November or early December.

China Telecom's competitor, China Unicom, announced in September that it too would be selling the iPhone 5. That company said that it would make the handset available around the end of the year. According … Read more

A number of hurdles must be overcome for Apple to be able to sell the iPhone 5 in China. Today, one of those barriers has been conquered and it's looking more likely that Chinese users will soon be able to get their hands on the device.

A Chinese regulatory agency named State Radio Management announced that two models of the iPhone 5 -- the A1429 and the A1442 -- have been approved to run on China's mobile networks, according to Chinese blog Sina Tech. Reportedly, the A1429 supports China Unicom's 3G network and China Mobile's 2G … Read more

The iPhone 5 is now officially certified for China.

Two models of Apple's flagship phone passed 3C (China Compulsory Certificate) certification on Monday, according to Sina Tech.

One goes by the model number A1429, which would be geared for China Unicom's WCDMA network and match up with the Hong Kong version of the iPhone 5, Sina Tech said. The other is model A1442, which would work on China Telecom's CDMA2000 network.

The 3C certification is a mandatory certificate system that inspects and approves various products to be sold in the Chinese market. The iPhone 5 faces two more challenges before it can reach China, … Read more

Apple's iPhone 5 will come to China by the end of the year, a carrier in that country has confirmed.

China Unicom told Chinese technology site Sohu IT in an interview published yesterday that it'll launch the iPhone 5 within the next three months. The carrier didn't say exactly when the device will launch. Separately, China Telecom told the publication that it, too, will be carrying Apple's iPhone 5 around the same time.

The Next Web was first to report on the story.

Apple announced the iPhone 5 on Wednesday. The company said that it'll … Read more

Apple saw its global iPhone sales skyrocket to more than 37 million last quarter. Just imagine what the number might have been if the iPhone 4S had been available in China at that time.

During Apple's earnings call yesterday, CEO Tim Cook said that he's been happy with sales of the iPhone 4S in Greater China. But since the phone didn't launch until January, the results weren't counted for the December quarter, a move the Apple chief seemed to regret.

"We felt we were betting bold, as I think many of you would have thought … Read more

It's no surprise that China's mobile market is highly coveted by any handset manufacturer. According to a new report from Wireless Intelligence, reported by GigaOm, China is approaching the 1 billion mark for mobile connections, largely due to the popularity of 3G, which accounts for nearly 25 percent of subscribers.

China's mobile connections grew almost 17 percent from 2010 to 2011. China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom are the big three cellular service providers in China, though only China Unicom currently offers Apple's iPhone.

If anything is an indication of the popularity of mobile devices … Read more

Apple has pulled the plug on iPhone 4S sales in mainland China after unruly crowds hurled eggs at the company's flagship store in Beijing, according to reports.

Hundreds of people had waited in line overnight to grab the new phone at the Santilun outlet (English translation) in Beijing, only to find out Friday morning local time that Apple had decided not to open the store in light of safety issues over the huge throngs of people, according to the Associated Press.

In reaction, some in the crowd began hurtling eggs at the store, eventually triggering the arrival of police … Read more