IPhone 5 hits stores on Friday

Huang added that China Unicom is running a third-generation network that uses wideband code division multiple access, or WCDMA, technology, a network telecommunications standard.

"The WCDMA technology is a time-tested, strongly supported and popular 3G technology globally," Huang said.

An Apple iPhone 5 is displayed in an Apple store in Rome, in this Sept 28, 2012 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]

China Unicom spokesman Wen Baoqiu said that the company expects the iPhone 5 to sell better than the iPhone 4S.

"Market reactions are making us more confident that the iPhone 5 will do better," Wen said.

By Tuesday morning, more than 300,000 pre-orders for the iPhone 5 had been made online, Wen said. China Unicom allowed customers to pre-purchase iPhone 5s early on Tuesday, and the number of those transactions reached 30,000 within an hour, Wen said.

China Telecom did not disclose its figures for pre-orders or pre-purchases.

The third quarter saw 60 million smartphones shipped in China, a record number and three times more than personal computer shipments, according to a report by the research company International Data Corp.

Apple Inc's ranking in the Chinese smartphone market fell to No 6 in the third quarter, when the company commanded less than 10 percent of the Chinese market, the company said.

"I don't think the iPhone 5 will help Apple lift its rankings in the Chinese market, since Apple merely concentrates on high-end buyers," said Sandy Shen, an analyst at technology researcher Gartner Inc.

shenjingting@chinadaily.com.cn