Apple has announced a long-anticipated deal with China Mobile, the world's biggest wireless carrier, in a market dominated by low-cost Android smartphones.
The deal gives Apple a bigger entry into the huge Chinese market and China Mobile's estimated 760 million subscribers. The network is also rolling out the world's biggest 4G network.
Under the agreement, iPhone 5s and 5c models will be available at China Mobile and Apple retail stores across mainland China from January 17, Apple said in a statement.
China Mobile chairman Xi Guohua said: "We know there are many China Mobile customers and potential new customers who are anxiously awaiting the incredible combination of iPhone on China Mobile's leading network."
Apple chief executive Tim Cook said: "China is an extremely important market for Apple and our partnership with China Mobile presents us the opportunity to bring iPhone to the customers of the world's largest network."
He said iPhone customers in China "are an enthusiastic and rapidly growing group".
Negotiations between Apple and China Mobile took years, with one big hurdle reportedly being the US firm's demand for sales volume guarantees.
Analyst Horace Dediu at the consultancy Asymco said a conservative estimate of four per cent of China Mobile customers would yield sales of some 30 million iPhones in the first year.
Cantor Fitzgerald Research estimated that 35 million to 45 million iPhones were already on China Mobile's network as of October, despite the lack of a deal between the companies.
The market tracking firm estimated that Apple could sell as many as 24 million iPhones on the China Mobile network next year if it were added to the network's formal line-up.
Industry tracker IDC forecast that smartphone sales in China will reach 360 million this year and, with the issuance of 4G network licences and iPhones launched on China Mobile, top 450 million in 2014.
China Mobile's 3G standard is incompatible with any existing iPhone models. Still, the California giant's handsets can be used on other networks in China.
But the Chinese government granted three state-owned operators licences early this month to offer services on the faster and better-quality 4G network, expected to renew competition between mobile phone makers.
Pricing details were not announced.
Earlier this year, Apple rolled out its iPhone 5C, with a slightly reduced cost to appeal to cost-conscious consumers, notably in developing markets.
The unsubsidised price of the iPhone 5C was $US550 ($A618.12) in the United States but higher in other countries, often due to tax and regulatory costs. In China the 5C sells at more than $700.
The iPhone 5C is part of Apple's effort to counter the flood of low-cost smartphones from rivals, most of which use the Google Android operating system.
Android's market share rose in the third quarter to 81 per cent, extending its lead over Apple's iOS, used on its iPhones, according to an IDC survey.
Even though iPhone sales grew 25.6 per cent from a year earlier, the growth was slower than the overall market and Apple's share fell to 12.9 per cent from 14.4 per cent in the same period last year.
