Apple to Begin iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus Sales in China October 17

From DailyTech: When Apple announced that it sold 10 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones during the first three days of availability, the sales tally didn’t look all that impressive compared to the 9 million iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C smartphones sold during the same period a year earlier. A closer examination of the details showed that neither of Apple’s new smartphones were available in China, which has become a huge market for the Cupertino, California-based company.

The reason for the holdup on Chinese sales was that Apple was awaiting approval from Chinese regulators to sell the handsets. In addition, Apple had to ensure that the operating system used on the smartphones, iOS 8, is free from any backdoor access that could grant U.S. spy agencies the ability to snoop in on the private data of regular Chinese citizens and government officials.

Apple was able to convince Chinese regulators that its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus don’t pose a security threat, and as a result the smartphones will be available for sale in China starting on October 17. That means that Chinese wireless subscribers on China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom can purchase the devices — in total, Apple will have access to nearly 1.3 billion customers.

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