Apple is not only making a cheaper iPhone 5C, but with its launch, for the first time, Apple phones will be offered by China Mobile, reports the Wall Street Journal. China’s largest carrier has 700 million subscribers.
Analysts have estimated that a cheaper iPhone could increase Apple’s market share in China by 13%, or 20 million phones, and that a deal with China Mobile could mean an additional 12 million iPhones sold per year. (The iPhone is already available on smaller carriers China Unicom and China Telecom.) The iPhone 5, the most recent handset from Apple, sold 5 million units in its first weekend alone.
Analysts estimate that a less-expensive iPhone could sell in China for less than half the current price of the iPhone 5, which would put it at about $400, but if Apple is determined to increase its market share in China, the company might price the iPhone 5C as low as $300. At $400 apiece, 32 million iPhones would represent an additional $12.8 billion in revenue for Apple.