Apple Could Sell 40 Million iPhones in China in 2013 [REPORT] (Mashable)

Apple could move as many as 40 million iPhones in China in 2013, according to one analyst's prediction. As first reported by AppleInsider, Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty issued a note to investors Sunday that touches on the "vast untapped potential" for the iPhone in China.

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As Apple CEO Tim Cook noted during last week's earnings call, China is an extremely important market for Apple. The company is continuing to invest heavily in increasing its footprint in that market.

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The iPhone is currently available in China from carrier China Unicom. Despite it being unavailable on the larger carriers, China Mobile and China Telecom, Chinese buyers have responded to the iPhone in a big way. In fact, Apple had to temporarily suspend iPhone 4S sales in order to protect store employees from overly enthusiastic crowds.

Huberty believes that if Apple is able to extend its China partnerships to include China Telecom, the company could sell an additional 26 million iPhone units in calendar year 2013. That would mean 40 million units for the entire region.

The real prize for Apple would be a deal with China Mobile, the world's largest wireless carrier. The company serves the majority of the country's high-end subscribers. Rumors have been swirling for months that Apple is in talks to bring the iPhone to China Mobile.

Huberty believes that a China Telecom partnership is likely to come first. Still, she also believes that the next iPhone will "likely be compatible" with China Mobile's upcoming 4G LTE network. If that's the case, that could give Apple an even bigger boost in the months to come. In fact, China Mobile already has nearly 10 million iPhone users on its network, despite not selling the phones through its channels -- and even though iPhones on China Mobile don?t have access to 3G.

Graphs courtesy of Morgan Stanley

Image courtesy of M.I.C. Gadget

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20120130/tc_mashable/apple_could_sell_40_million_iphones_in_china_in_2013_report

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