Cheap iPhone bound for China, according to new report

| at Friday, September 6, 2013 | Leave a comment

Made, leaked and soon-to-be sold in China (credit: iapps)

Add China to the list of words that the C in iPhone 5C could stand for - right next to color and cheap.

Apple is readying a shipment of the less-expensive iPhone to China Mobile, the world's largest wireless carrier, according to a Wall Street Journal report today.

Apple is said to have asked its overseas device manufacturer Foxconn to add China Mobile to the list of iPhone 5C carriers, reported the paper citing unnamed sources.

While the official agreement is between the companies is thought to be complete, the release date for the cheap iPhone in China is still unknown.

Staggering numbers

The deal would open Apple up to the Chinese carrier’s nearly 745 million customers.

To put that into perspective, the China Mobile customer base is seven times larger than the No. 1 U.S. carrier, Verizon.

Not even the U.K.'s Vodafone, the world's second largest carrier, touches China Mobile, which surpasses its subscriber totals by more than 300 million.

Leveling the playing ground

The iPhone 5C, expected to be announced on Sept. 10 alongside the iPhone 5S, may be made of plastic instead of aluminum. But that’s okay for the majority of the customers in Greater China.

That leads to another staggering number: the iPhone 5 is selling for about 5,000 yuan, or $815 (about £521, AU$887) without a contract, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Apple needs to bring the price down in the neighborhood of $200 (about £128, AU$218), which is how much a majority of smartphones cost in China.

If Apple is indeed making headway into the country with a China Mobile deal, it could help stem the worldwide domination that has Android devices controlling a whopping 79 percent of the market.