Two of the largest mobile carriers in China announced today that for the first time they will start selling cellular models of the iPad. China Telecom and China Unicom will be selling cellular models of the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3. Previously the carriers have sold Wi-Fi only models exclusively. The models they will sell come up support for TD-LTE and FDD-LTE standards so these models will be able to run on the carriers’ high-speed data networks.
China Telecom and China Unicom both sent out press releases to confirm that they will start selling cellular + Wi-Fi models of the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, the latest generation of Apple’s tablets, starting March 27th.
These iPads will also have support for other cellular standards including DC-HSDPA and HSPA+. Nothing else is different about these models and the Wi-Fi only ones.
As previously mentioned this is the first time that two of the three largest carriers in the People’s Republic have committed to selling the cellular + Wi-Fi models of Apple’s tablets. Apple itself started selling the iPads through its own retail stores in China back in December 2014.
Customers in China will be able to purchase these models through Apple’s retail stores and its online store. China Telecom and China Unicom retail stores will have the units in stock starting March 27th.
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