China Mobile: Half of All LTE Subscribers are iPhone Users

China Mobile is the world's largest cellular provider and hovers around 780 million subscribers. After years of negotiations, Apple was finally able to strike a deal with the company that would bring the popular iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c to the carrier.

Today, CEO Li Yue revealed that about half of their 2.8 million 4G LTE subscribers are iPhone users. While this number is small in comparison to the 780 million users on their network, it does show that the iPhone is coming out as the preferred brand for Chinese customers transitioning from older devices to newer 'feature' phones.

The CEO did not reveal how many 3G customers were using iPhones. According to analysts, Apple sold three million iPhones in China in just the previous quarter, hinting that most iPhone buyers have yet to move to LTE contracts. In February alone, China Mobile added 1 million iPhone customers.


Apple has been trying to push its presence in China for a while now. Angela Ahrendts, Apple's new retail senior VP is reportedly amping up the company's retail presence in the area and plans on expanding its retail footprint from 10 retail stores to 30 stores by 2016.

Read More via Electronista