Apple has signed an iPhone deal with China Mobile. “China is an extremely important market for Apple,” Tim Cook, Apple chief executive, said in a statement.

Cook continued – “Our partnership with China Mobile presents us the opportunity to bring iPhone to the customers of the world’s largest network.”

With more than 760 million customers, the Chinese firm was just one of the three networks to be awarded their first 4G license recently.

Apple has been looking to boost its sales in China, the world’s largest smartphone market, but has struggled amid growing competition from rivals.

This deal will most definitely increase its market share.

Cook commented earlier this year that China will replace North America as Apple’s largest source of revenue. Since the iPhone is the firm’s most important product in terms of earnings power, this is a no-brainer for Apple.

After all, China has the most smartphone users in the world – with a whopping 1.2 billion users. With the U.S. at a mere 140 million – China is a big win for Apple.

But iPhone models sales in China have slumped, as their consumers have gone to cheaper rival handsets from Samsung, and other Chinese developers.

Their three smartphone makers that are bestsellers are Samsung, Lenovo and Coolpad, according to a recent report by the consultants IDC.

And in their recent attempt to compete with their lower cost rivals – Apple recently unveiled a cheaper version of the iPhone – the 5c, to meet the demand for cheaper, up front smartphones.

But, Apple has not revealed how much the iPhone 5s and 5c will cost for Chinese customers, sold via China Mobile.

Either way, experts say the deal has huge potential. Cantor Fitzgerald Research estimates that Apple could sell 24 million iPhones next year to China Mobile customers alone.

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