Apple sells 5 Million iPhones to China Unicom, Hitting market in September?

**sayam** · 08-13-2009, 11:56 AM

A recent report by International Business Times claims that China Unicom has made a mass purchase for WCDMA iPhone models from Apple, needless to say it's without Wi-Fi! The deal was for 5 Million iPhones in exchange of around 10 Billion Yuans (almost $1.46 BILLION), making a profit of 1,000 ($146 approx.) to 1,100 Yuan ($160 approx.) for each piece sold!

The report also claims that these phones will be hitting the Chinese shore in about a month, that is, September! Unlike AT&T in US, China Unicom won't be sharing any of their profits with Apple, which indicates the absence of subsidization options for China or maybe a harsh deal from China Unicom that Apple agreed on - whatever but it's not in Apple's favor. If the China Unicom iPhone isn't subsided then they might have trouble selling it since the iPhone already sells on the Chinese grey market for a mere 400 yuan ($59) to 1,000 yuan ($146).

Surely this is a big opportunity for Apple to expand it's reach but will Chinese consumers embrace the iPhone? Personally, I believe Chinese and Indian markets are very similar. Indian sales have been a disaster for Apple given they didn't even sell a 100k pieces. Let's see how this goes.

via Apple Insider

**xZinnX** · 08-13-2009, 12:25 PM

Is WCMDA same as our CMDA?

**StealthBravo** · 08-13-2009, 01:03 PM

**zoolander369** · 08-13-2009, 01:08 PM

I love my iPhone, but...

Aren't there better phones available in China?

I could be wrong, I'm under the impression that China and Japan have way more advanced phones than we do.

**RonHC** · 08-13-2009, 01:09 PM

i heard GODzilla is getting one too

**daching** · 08-13-2009, 01:17 PM

5 million is not going to be enough. There will be an iPhone shortage in China soon.

**sayam** · 08-13-2009, 01:29 PM

Originally Posted by daching

5 million is not going to be enough. There will be an iPhone shortage in China soon.

Only if they buy from China Unicom

Even here in India, grey market pwns...

**scottjl** · 08-13-2009, 01:34 PM

why no wifi in china..? just curious.

**CMPLX** · 08-13-2009, 01:40 PM

59 bucks for an iPhone? How so?

**V.A.M.P** · 08-13-2009, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by CMPLX

59 bucks for an iPhone? How so?

If I have to guess well for one, it is assemble and prototyped in china. And two, they made replicas.

**wannagotopopeyes** · 08-13-2009, 02:38 PM

Originally Posted by sayam

[since the iPhone already sells on the Chinese grey market for a mere 400 yuan ($59) to 1,000 yuan ($146).]

$59 - $146??? Where is this magical place and how do I get there?!

**sayam** · 08-13-2009, 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by wannagotopopeyes

$59 - $146??? Where is this magical place and how do I get there?!

Everything's possible in China, just need to know the right place to go

**A_DuB187** · 08-13-2009, 02:50 PM

Yeah 150 bucks will probably get you a good knock-off but I seriously doubt the real deal. Over in that part of the world (Japan/China) iPhone probably doesn't look so revolutionary. They walk around with super computers in their pockets.

**carlos.michell** · 08-13-2009, 03:08 PM

Originally Posted by A_DuB187

Yeah 150 bucks will probably get you a good knock-off but I seriously doubt the real deal. Over in that part of the world (Japan/China) iPhone probably doesn't look so revolutionary. They walk around with super computers in their pockets.

You are soooooooooooooo right. The iphone to them is like going back to the cave man era...lol

**dillonsmith9147** · 08-13-2009, 03:12 PM

Originally Posted by A_DuB187

Yeah 150 bucks will probably get you a good knock-off but I seriously doubt the real deal. Over in that part of the world (Japan/China) iPhone probably doesn't look so revolutionary. They walk around with super computers in their pockets.

Very true, we had a foreign exchange student from Korea last year and he was talking about all the phones they had and how much nicer they were than ours, he laughed when we said that was the best we could dish out.

**Melech518** · 08-13-2009, 03:29 PM

They will be knocked off, again, and sold for a fraction of the price in a day

**confucious** · 08-13-2009, 03:31 PM

Originally Posted by xZinnX

Is WCMDA same as our CMDA?

No. WCDMA is UMTS which is what the iPhone (and the rest of the world) uses. What you Americans call CDMA is CDMA-2000

**Fallguy** · 08-13-2009, 03:48 PM

Whats the point without Wifi ? You clazy .

**confucious** · 08-13-2009, 03:50 PM

The Chinese won't allow WiFi - at least not on any standard recognised in the rest of the world.

**matdogg** · 08-13-2009, 07:02 PM

okay, so just to clear this up, from what ive gathered, this does not mean that we would potentially be able to get ahold of one of these and use it with verizon, sprint, or some other "non sim" using services correct? the signals we use are not standard in comparison to the rest of the world, so it would require some extreme hardware modding/ be impossible to use one on verizon, sprint etc.?

Thread: Apple sells 5 Million iPhones to China Unicom, Hitting market in September?

LinkBack

Thread Tools

Display

Apple sells 5 Million iPhones to China Unicom, Hitting market in September?

Posting Permissions