China Unicom sells 100,000 new iPhones

China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd, the nation's second largest telecom operator by subscriber, announced on Monday that it had received 100,000 online orders over a period of five days for Apple Inc's latest iPhone models.

China Unicom said it opened online booking three hours after Apple's Beijing product launch event on Sept 11. It said Chinese customers can purchase iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C handsets through both its online and offline channels.

China Unicom is the first Chinese telecom carrier to cooperate with Apple selling iPhones. The company has offered both iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS on contract since 2009.

China Telecom Corp Ltd is also selling iPhone handsets, although it has not yet revealed sales figures.