Apple opened its store number 11 in China in Chongqing on Saturday as part of the overall plan to open 25 more  stores in the mainland in the future. 

The opening of the 11th Apple store in China came as iPhone sales in the country registered a 50 percent rise in the second quarter from the previous quarter, Apple said.

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"This is far beyond all expectations," Apple CEO, Tim Cook said according to China Daily.

The next Apple store is expected in the beginning of August in the town of Wuxi in the Jiangxu province not far from Shanghai.

According to Cook, the company will open at least 25 more stores in the future.

Apple will not yet reveal the locations of the coming stores but on its website the company said it was looking for employees in 16 provinces all over the mainland

The company is offering jobs in Shandong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui in Esatern China and Guizhou in Southwest China.

Currently, there are Apple stores in Beijing, Guangdong, Shanghai, Sichuan and now also Chongqing.

Meanwhile, the three largest telecom operators, China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom will cut their subsidies, when customers are buying a new phone.

Currently, consumers who buy iPhone get a 70 percent subsidy.

The big three firms are expected to save US$ 6.4 billion on their marketing budgets over the coming three years, which likely will affect the sales of iPhone and other smart phones.

In relation to this, experts adviced Apple to try to find other channels for the marketing of their products

In China, almost half of its population, or 632 million people, are internet users. Of These 527 million use their smartphones to go online.

As reported earlier here on China Topix, China has become the world's largest market for online retail with sales close to US$300 billion in 2013.