Apple’s China Mobile Pact Opens Massive New iPhone Market

Apple Stroke of Genius

Analysts estimate that Apple could sell between 20 million and 30 million iPhones on China 

Mobile’s network next year. That would effectively double the number of iPhones it sold in the 

country in 2013. Colin W. Gillis, a technology analyst at BGC Financial, said in a recent 

research note to clients that the China Mobile iPhone launch is one of the last remaining short-

term catalysts that could propel Apple shares substantially higher. As 2013 draws to a close, 

Apple’s stock price is essentially flat for the year, although the shares have soared 33% in the 

past six months, reversing steep losses in the first half of the year.

This deal analysis has Apple has suffered a steady drop starting from about early February  2012

With the having sold 125 million iPhones in fiscal 2012, Apple could sell another 17 million 

through China Mobile alone in 2014, according to estimates from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene 

Munster, adding 5% to the Wall Street’s revenue estimates for Apple next year. Analysts at 

Robert W. Baird & Company believe Apple could sell an even bigger 30 million iPhones 

through China Mobile in 2014. And the bold release of the Iphone 5C did not help this downfall 

at all while the 5s expected sales was met the 5c kept on struggling.

 

In China, where one-third of the world’s smartphones are currently being sold, $549 translates 

to 3359.88 yuan. That’s about an average month’s salary in China, according to this data from 

2012, or three months of a bus driver’s monthly salary, according to another source. In other 

words, buying an iPhone for your average Chinese citizen would be much like buying a 

cheapish second-hand car for $5,000 to $10,000 in the U.S.