China Mobile Hasn’t Talked About Getting the iPhone 5; No iPhones Until 2014

Apple’s new iPhone should be announced this Wednesday. The phone will likely support 4G TD-LTE networks, which means that it could work on China Mobile’s. But according to Sina Tech, numerous sources at the company all denied that China Mobile was even discussing the iPhone 5 internally.

That might come as a surprise to some, but readers with good memories may recall that back in July, China Mobile vice-GM Li Zhengmao said explicitly that China Mobile will not be getting the iPhone until 2014. Apparently, China Mobile is content to build its 4G network without what is likely to be one of the most popular 4G handsets, and Apple fans will just have to wait a couple more years to see their precious device on China Mobile.

Or, of course, they could just jailbreak it, which is what China Mobile subscribers have been doing with iPhones for years. Despite the fact that current-gen iPhones can’t access China Mobile’s 3G network, the company still has tens of millions of iPhone users who have jailbroken their phones so that their China Mobile cards will work in the device. It sounds like there’s no hope for a China Mobile iPhone 5, and probably not even a China Mobile iPhone 6, so it looks like people will have to keep jailbreaking for the foreseeable future.

[via Sina Tech]