China Mobile has finally signed a deal with Apple to sell the iPhone on its network, according to the Wall Street Journal. It’s expected that the iPhone will launch sometime around a Dec. 18 China Mobile conference, where the carrier plans to unveil a brand for its 4G network. A China Mobile subsidiary was briefly taking pre-orders for the iPhone 5c and 5s earlier this week, and the Chinese government previously suggested that Apple and China Mobile had reached a deal.
However, a more recent report claims that no deal has been made as of yet. “We are still negotiating with Apple, but for now we have nothing new to announce,” China Mobile spokeswoman Rainie Lei told Reuters. It’s entirely possible that a broad agreement was reached some time ago, but certain specifics have yet to be hammered out.
