According to a report from market research firm In-Stat, there are currently 400,000 unlocked Apple iPhones running in China.. The phones are made in China and then are smuggled back in to the country and sold to consumers for well above U.S. retail prices, The New York Times reported.
In-Stat has stated that the majority of these unlocked iPhones are running on China Mobile.
This means that more than 10% of the iPhones Apple shipped out in 2007, 10% of the 3.7 million, are running in China.
The phones are particularly popular with young professionals, who frequently pay between $450 and $600 for a phone that typically sells around $400 in the U.S., according to a Times report published Monday.
Buyers often pay extra fees to have the phone’s digital lock broken so they can work on local cellular networks.
Last month, Apple and China Mobile called off talks to bring the iPhone to the Asian carrier’s 350 million subscribers — more than the population of the United States.
The iPhone will officially hit China and other parts of Asia before 2008 is out.