14 DAY TRIAL // Amidst signing a major deal with one of the world’s biggest providers of wireless services, Apple has posted a FAQ for customers interested in knowing the particularities of iPhone models meant for China Mobile.
Apple reveals the purpose of KB article HT6102, namely to “find the answers to common questions about the iPhone launch on China Mobile.”
For example, if you’re asking yourself if the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c models for China Mobile are new versions of the phones that were originally introduced in September, Apple says there are no new features inside these phones, though they do have some different wireless certifications tied to them: 4G or TD-LTE and 3G or TD-SCDMA.
There are some tricky situations where a customer may have purchased an unlocked iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c in China before the China Mobile deal went down (on January 17th), leading some customers to ask “will my iPhone work on China Mobile's 3G or 4G network?”
Apple responds with the following answer, “Only certain iPhone models will work on the China Mobile network. To see if your iPhone is compatible, please check its model number, which is on the back of your iPhone, under the word ‘iPhone.’”
The knowledge-base article reveals that China Mobile models are iPhone 5s (Model A1518) and iPhone 5c (Model A1516).
However, the company also points out that “Apple Retail, Apple Online Store, and other resellers will sell unlocked versions for China Mobile.” These models are labeled as iPhone 5s (Model A1530) and iPhone 5c (Model A1529).
Other answered questions include: “Will the iPhone I bought overseas work on China Mobile?;” “Can I buy the unlocked China Mobile models and use them on China Unicom or China Telecom?;” or “When traveling overseas, which networks can my China Mobile iPhone access?”