China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. (CHU) said Friday it will start offering an eight-gigabyte version of Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone 3GS handset with Wi-Fi capability in China on Monday.

Unicom has so far offered iPhones without Wi-Fi wireless Internet capability to comply with previous government regulations. Offering iPhones with Wi-Fi could make them more attractive to Chinese customers and help boost sales.

Pricing for the new handset and bundled mobile service plans will follow current pricing for the eight-gigabyte iPhone 3G from Unicom, which requires an upfront payment of CNY4,999 ($738.49), Unicom said.

Unicom didn't say if it would continue to offer the eight-gigabyte iPhone 3G or the 16-gigabyte and 32-gigabyte iPhone 3GS handsets. Unicom has been selling those handsets, which have Wi-Fi capability removed, but has had to compete with "gray market" versions of the iPhone that had the function and were brought into China from other markets.

Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu declined to immediately comment.

Unicom has also said it is in talks with Apple to offer the iPhone 4 and the iPad in China, but Apple hasn't announced plans to offer those products in the country.

-By Owen Fletcher, Dow Jones Newswires; 8610 8400 7702; owen.fletcher@dowjones.com
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