China Unicom To Offer Free iPhone 4S Handset With Contract
by Joe White
January 7, 2012
Though it was only recently announced that the iPhone 4S will launch in China on January 13, China Unicom has already decided how it's going to sell Apple's fifth generation handset.
Free iPhone 4S handsets will be handed out to Apple fans willing to sign a multi-year deal. If you commit to two years, the 16 gigabyte model is free, while a three year commitment can bag you the 32 gigabyte model.
After having crunched some numbers, iDownloadBlog notes that:
To get the free iPhone 4S, customers must sign up for a monthly plan starting at 286 yuan, or $45. If customers sign a two year contract at that price, they’ll end up paying China Unicom $1080 over the course of the contract. Now if we know that the 16GB iPhone 4S costs $650, we can gather that the carrier still makes roughly $400 per “free” handset. That is, assuming the customers continue to pay their bills.China Unicom is the only network in China that carries the iPhone, and is the third largest network worldwide. Analysts believe that this promotion is going to add even more strain to China Unicom's data network, which is already struggling, reports claim. As mentioned, the iPhone 4S launches in China (and 21 other countries) on January 13. We'll let you know how the launch goes.
