The Wall Street Journal is reporting that whilst China Mobile’s 4G services do not launch until the 18th, the carrier will open preorders for the iPhone from this Thursday, the 12th of December.

Analysts are expectantly awaiting the iPhone’s launch on the worlds-biggest carrier, with some estimating that the partnership will be attributable for about 38 million of Apple’s total iPhone sales in 2014.

This is the most important phone launch since the iPhone first became available in 2007 and has the potential to add significant profit to Apple’s bottom line.