Apple Inc is anticipated to release its upgraded iPhone next month and it might also unveil an inexpensive smartphone for the emerging market. Apple also installed the chips of Qualcomm in its smartphones so that they could operate on the networks of China. Crucially, China Mobile was reported to be expecting a grant for 4G licenses by the end of the year. With the concerns being solved by the two parties, analysts said Apple and China Mobile are currently moving closer to a deal.

"The circumstances and the issues that were a hindrance in the past seem to be getting resolved. So I think there's a higher probability that potentially there's something in the works," Barclays' telecoms analyst in Singapore, Anand Ramachandran, said. "Tim Cook says he expects China to be the largest market for Apple after the U.S., but I don't see how that can happen if you don't have the largest operator as your partner."

The International Data Corporation projected the mobile shipments in China to surge to over 460 million by 2017, worth almost USD120 billion. In contrast, the forecasted shipments of smartphones this year was only 330 million, worth USD80 billion.

The shares of China Mobile were valued about USD220 billion, half of the market worth of Apple. Analysts said China Mobile's 740 million subscribers would help Apple gain the dominance it wanted in the smartphone market.