Wednesday Apple Rumors: No iPhone Deal With China Mobile Yet

by Christopher Freeburn | December 18, 2013 10:19 am

[1]Here are your Apple rumors[2] and AAPL news items for today:

Delay: The world’s largest wireless carrier says it remains in discussions with Apple (AAPL[3]) to bring the iPhone to its network[4], but has no agreement to announce, the New York Times notes. China Mobile’s (CHL[5]) chairman made the statement to reporters on Wednesday, shooting down speculation that the company would announce the addition of the iPhone to its offerings when it unveils its new 4G/LTE network today. Numerous media reports over the past few weeks had indicated that a deal between Apple and China Mobile had been struck. Other rumors suggested that China Mobile subsidiaries were readying to take iPhone pre-orders and had developed marketing materials. A deal with China Mobile — which has more than 700 million subscribers — is considered critical to bolster Apple’s sliding share of the Chinese smartphone market. Tim Cook reportedly traveled to China over the summer to negotiate directly with China Mobile officials.

Pricey: Apple’s new high-end desktop computer will go on sale on Dec. 19[6], TheVerge notes. Apple showed off a radically-redesigned Mac Pro at its Worldwide Developers Conference back in June. The company ditched the prior model’s gray-grill box design in favor of a small, sleek black cylinder. The new Mac Pro includes Intel’s (INTC[7]) Xeon E5 chips and can be configured with a graphics card with up to 6GB of memory, a maximum of 64GB of RAM and a 1TB solid state hard drive. Available through the Apple website and Apple Stores, Mac Pro pricing starts at $2,999. The computer runs of the most current version of OSX Mavericks.

Shared: Apple has decided to split the production of upcoming chips between two supply chain partners[8], DigiTimes. According to the report, Apple has signed a contract with Samsung to manufacture smartphone 14/16 nanometer FinFET chips in 2015. The iPhone-maker has tapped Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM[9]) to produce 20 nanometer A-series processors for next year’s iPhones. TSM will also manufacture some 14/16 nanometer FinFET chips. A source told DigiTimes that TSM and Samsung might “equally share” 2014 chip orders from Apple. DigiTimes has a mixed record of accuracy when it comes to reporting about Apple.

For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors[10] stories.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/12/wednesday-apple-rumors-iphone-deal-china-mobile-yet/

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