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China to account for 15-20% of iPhone shipments next year?

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On August 29, 2009, 6:13 PM

According to a Wall Street analyst, Apple will ship five to seven million iPhones in China during 2010, after striking a three-year agreement with China Unicom. Broadpoint AmTech analyst Brian Marshall estimates that the Chinese market will account for 15% to 20% of Apple's global iPhone sales next year.

China Unicom's 140 million subscribers make it the second largest carrier in the country, only topped by China Mobile, which has 460 million customers. Interestingly, Marshall noted only about half of China Unicom's customers are pre-paid, compared to 80% of China Mobile's.

Naturally, pre-paid customers are of little use to Apple, and the number of post-paid customers the two companies have are on a similar plane. China Unicom has about 70 million post-paid customers, and China Mobile has around 92 million.

China Unicom has been adamantly building its 3G network -- an obvious requisite to host the iPhone. The carrier will begin shipping iPhones in the fourth quarter of this year. On a side note, unconfirmed reports have claimed that the Chinese iPhone will lack Wi-Fi capabilities.

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6 comments

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  1. August 30, 2009 8:18 AM
    Captain828
    Captain828 said:

    minor typo: The carrier will being [...] -> The carrier will begin [...]

    Reply
  2. August 30, 2009 12:08 PM
    Staff
    Matthew
    Matthew, TechSpot Staff, said:

    Thanks, fixed.

    Reply
  3. August 30, 2009 7:12 PM
    Guest said:

    Wait wait... If the iPhones are made in China, then why is Apple shipping them to China??

    What monkey wrote this article??

    Reply
  4. August 30, 2009 7:50 PM
    Staff
    Matthew
    Matthew, TechSpot Staff, said:

    Shipments as in sales - the number of units distributed. I'm the monkey that wrote this article and it makes perfect sense. Thanks for your attempt at being clever.

    Reply
  5. August 30, 2009 8:28 PM
    red1776
    red1776, Omnipotent Ruler of the Universe, said:

    . I'm the monkey that wrote this article and it makes perfect sense. Thanks for your attempt at being clever.

    yes it does...give'em hell Matthew

    Reply
  6. September 1, 2009 7:29 PM
    JudaZ said:

    They may "ship" the iPhone to china.. but how many will be sold? ... possible as many as there where Vista licenses sold in Chine the first 4 months of release :o) ... what was it . .5?

    Reply

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