iPhone 5 gets final approvals from Chinese government
updated 10:22 am EST, Thu November 29, 2012
Could be on sale by mid-December
China's Ministry of Industry and Technology has given approval to the iPhone 5, clearing the way for the phone's sale in the country, reports say. Filings mention WCDMA and CDMA-2000 editions, indicating that the country's current official iPhone carriers -- China Unicom and China Telecom -- will remain the only ones for the foreseeable future. The 5 is expected on sale as soon as mid-December.
The world's largest cellular carrier, China Mobile, could still get the iPhone in the next few months. The company's main limitation has been the decision to go with TD-SCDMA, a Chinese-only 3G standard not built into any model of the iPhone. Mobile has, however, been working on an LTE network which could be compatible with a tweaked iPhone 5, or perhaps next-generation hardware.
