Apple has made a deal with China Mobile to sell the iPhone to more than 760 million customers who use the Chinese service provider. Many believe this move could help Apple increase its share from the fifth position in this ever-growing smartphone market.
Starting on Jan 17, Apple's iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C will be available from China Mobile and Apple retail stores in China. Currently, Apple already sells its phones in China through China Telecom and China Unicom. However, a deal with China Mobile puts the new flagship smartphone from Apple on the largest service provider in the country.
While Apple smartphones are dominant in the United States and a major player in Europe, the company has had a difficult time gaining some traction in China, where Android-powered phones are the dominant operating system.
The Times reports that the slow sales of the iPhone in china are reflected in the overall shrinkage of the company's share of the global smartphone market, which has gone to 12.1 percent in the third quarter down from 14.3 percent in the same period last year, according to market research firm Gartner.
"China is an extremely important market for Apple and our partnership with China Mobile presents us the opportunity to bring iPhone to the customers of the world's largest network," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement, via The New York Times.
Apple has coveted a deal with China Mobile for quite some time but didn't warm up to the idea of cutting a deal with the Calif.-based tech giant until it began losing customers to competitors who offer the iPhone.
As of right now, there is no pricing set on the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C on China Mobile, but a statement from Apple says this information will be coming later in a statement.
