Apple sells over 2 million iPhone 5 handsets in China over launch weekend

“Customer response to iPhone 5 in China has been incredible, setting a new record with the best first weekend sales ever in China,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “China is a very important market for us and customers there cannot wait to get their hands on Apple products.”

The Chinese market is a massive area for Apple to gain huge market share. Apple currently has deals in place with two major Chinese mobile networks and they are China Unicom and China Telecom. To make the next step, a deal with China Mobile will need to be signed and that would open up the iPhone 5 to the largest mobile operator in China. China mobile currently has over 700 million subscribers but the stumbling block may be the technology that China Mobile uses.

Its LTE network is built on TD-SCDMA technologies, and TD-SCDMA is only used by China Mobile (China Telecom uses regular CDMA and China Unicom is on UMTS). The iPhone 5 does not currently support that particular flavour of LTE but we are reasonably sure that Apple could rectify that particular problem if the two companies could agree on a deal.

Source: Apple PR

iPhone 5 First Weekend Sales in China Top Two Million BEIJING—December 17, 2012—Apple® today announced it has sold over two million of its new iPhone® 5 in China, just three days after its launch on December 14. iPhone 5 will be available in more than 100 countries by the end of December, making it the fastest iPhone rollout ever.

“Customer response to iPhone 5 in China has been incredible, setting a new record with the best first weekend sales ever in China,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “China is a very important market for us and customers there cannot wait to get their hands on Apple products.”

iPhone 5 is the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever, completely redesigned to feature a stunning new 4-inch Retina® display; an Apple-designed A6 chip for blazing fast performance; and ultrafast wireless technology*—all while delivering even better battery life.** iPhone 5 comes with iOS 6, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new features including: Shared Photo Streams, all-new Maps app, Passbook® organization and even more Siri® features and languages including Mandarin.

*Network speeds are dependent on carrier networks, check with your carrier for details. **Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.