Contrary to expectations, China was not among the countries included in Apple’s initial iPhone 6 release date, as regulatory issues proved to be the proverbial spanner in the works that had led to China’s exclusion. So while customers from the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, Japan, and several other markets would be able to purchase the iPhone 6 tomorrow, Chinese consumers will have to wait it out a while. Then again, a new report suggests that “a while” may not be too long after all, as Apple has supposedly been able to acquire the first of two licenses required for a Chinese iPhone 6 release date.
According to Reuters, Apple has received one of the mandatory licenses that would allow the company to sell the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in China; this license, in particular, allows Apple to sell its new phones with China’s domestic frequency. But while this is definitely a positive step in the right direction for the iPhone 6 release date in China, Apple is still lacking a network access license, something that would give it the green light to sell the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in the country.
So where do Chinese customers go from here? The Reuters report also adds that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are both under review by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in hopes of Apple securing the necessary license. This review is similar to what the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c went through last year, and since both 2013 devices passed through successfully, chances of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus hitting Chinese stores sooner and not later appear to be quite good.