China Mobile is currently negotiating a deal with Apple for the distribution of iPhones in China.
A Wall Street Journal report claiming that an agreement had been signed has been dismissed by the operator.
The original report claimed that the device would launch “around the time of an 18 December China Mobile conference in Guangzhou”. However, China Mobile spokesperson Rainie Lei said: “Talks between China Mobile and Apple on cooperation are still going on and we currently do not have anything to announce.”
Now that TD-LTE licences have been issued in the country, China Mobile will launch its network at the aforementioned conference. The operator has built out a large trial network, standing it in good stead for a full launch.
China Unicom and China Telecom have already announced deals with Apple, and it is understandable that the smartphone manufacturer would want to tie up with the world’s largest operator.
