iPhone 6 and 6 Plus available in China next month

In case you did not know, China is the largest smartphone market worldwide, bigger even than the good old US of A. For the major players in the mobile industry, it is hugely important to be leading there, as being successful in China leads to a healthy market share growth overall, but, more importantly, a healthy increase in the bottom line also.

You can imagine then just how important it is for Apple to have its new iPhones on sale in China as soon as possible. Due to regulatory approvals, it has not happened yet, but luckily for the company, that will soon change.

Only moments ago, Apple officially announced that its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will be available to pre-order in China, from its online store, on Friday, October 10. The two will go on sale a week later, on October 17. Apple adds that eager prospective customers can reserve an iPhone 6 and/on iPhone 6 Plus for in-store pick-up on October 14, and get it on launch day.

"We are thrilled to bring iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus to our customers in China on all three carriers at launch", says Apple CEO Tim Cook. "With support for TD-LTE and FDD-LTE, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus customers will have access to high-speed mobile networks from China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom for an incredible experience".

What Tim Cook does not say is that Apple had to apparently increase the security of iOS 8 in order for its new iPhones to receive the nod of approval from the Chinese regulator, which had shown some concern regarding a number of background services. The US company also promised not to work with any government to bake backdoors into its mobile operating system. You can read all the official details, posted by the Chinese regulator, by hitting the link above.

The two new iPhones, which are coming with their 4G capabilities in tow to China, will also be available on October 17 through the aforementioned mobile operators' slew of retail stores as well as local resellers that Apple has authorized, which considerably expands the pool of potential buyers, as Apple Stores are not as prevalent in China as they are in the US.

I cannot stress enough just how big of a market China is for Apple. A year ago, its then-new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c were available there on launch day, allowing the two to generate then-record sales of 9 million units in the opening weekend. Fast forward a year later, but without being officially sold in China, the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus barely manage to break that record, only by a mere 1 million units.

With all the much-awaited features they bring, their opening weekend lead they have over their predecessors should have been much more substantial. That may not have happened, but, by the looks of it, the new iPhones stand to more comfortably break other records after October 17.

Apple says iPhone 6 will start at CNY5,288 (about $860), while the bigger iPhone 6 Plus will be available from CNY6,088 (about $990). The entry-level prices are for the 16 GB models; add CNY800 or CNY1600 to see just how much the 64 GB or 128 GB models, respectively, will cost.