Once you land in China, there are two things you’re going to want to make sure you have at all times – toilet paper and a cell phone (手机 – shǒu jī). If you’re heading to China and your phone isn’t unlocked, one of your first orders of business will surely be to buy yourself a new one. This can be a daunting task in a new language, but don’t worry – we’re here to help!

 Brands

You’ve got plenty of choices when it comes to buying a cell phone. Rather than grunting and pointing at the phones in the display cases in your local electronics market, why not learn the Chinese names for some of the most popular companies? Let’s start with popular foreign brands first:

• Apple (苹果 – píng guǒ)

• Samsung (三星 – sān xīng)

• Nokia (诺基亚 – nuò jī yà)

• Sony (索尼 – suǒ ní)

• Motorola (摩托罗拉 – mó tuō luō lā)

While Apple once reigned supreme in the smart phone game in China, they’ve recently dropped to 5th place. This is due in part to local brands becoming increasingly popular. Here are five of the biggest Chinese mobile phone brands:

• Huawei (华为 – huá wèi)

• Vivo (维沃 – wéi wò)

• Oppo (欧珀 – Ōu pò)

• Xiaomi (小米 – xiǎo mǐ)

• Lenovo (联想 – lián xiǎng)

While you may have never heard of some of these brands, you may want to consider them. For one, buying a local phone in China is substantially cheaper than buying one that’s imported. Also, Chinese smart phone manufacturers have been stepping up their game seriously in recent years. Just check out this video from the Wall Street Journal showcasing the Xiaomi Mi Note:

Once you’ve got your phone picked out, it’s time to choose your service provider.

Providers

There are three main providers of cell service in China. Here they are in English and Chinese:

• China Mobile (中国移动 – zhōng guó yí dòng)

• China Unicom (中国联通 – zhōng guó lián tōng)

• China Telecom (中国电信 – zhōng guó diàn xìn)

Of the three, China Mobile is by far the largest and most prominent. China Unicom’s coverage is not quite as extensive, but it should work just fine for most places you’ll probably be in the country. I’ve used both Mobile and Unicom and found them both to work well, but I’ve never tried Telecom so I can’t say much about them.

Plans

Most people in China still do pay-as-you-go for their cell phones. It’s really easy to find recharge cards (充值卡 – chōng zhí kǎ) in convenience stores or newsstands, so you never have to go long without phone credit. You can buy a recharge card for 50 or 100 RMB and are charged per minute, SMS, or MB of data used. Alternatively, you can sign up for month-to-month plans with a set number of minutes, texts, and data. You just need to make sure you have enough money in your account each month when the bill comes due. Contracts aren’t big in China, so you don’t have to worry about getting sucked into a 2-year deal with a company like you do in the US.

Sample Conversation

Here’s a short sample conversation of someone buying a cell phone in China for you to practice and study. Try to translate the conversation yourself before opening the English text underneath.

欢迎光临！有什么可以帮您的？
huān yíng guāng lín! yǒu shén me kě yǐ bāng nín de

你好，我要买手机.
nǐ hǎo, wǒ yāo mǎi shǒu jī

好的，什么样的手机？
hǎo de, shén me yàng de shǒu jī

有没有苹果的？
yǒu méi yǒu píng guǒ de

有的，看一下，我们有iPhone 6. 这个是新的.
yǒu de, kàn yī xià, wǒ men yǒu iPhone 6. zhè ge shì xīn de

多少钱？
duō shǎo qián

我看，这个5500块钱.
wǒ kàn, zhè ge 5500 kuài qián

有点贵. 有便宜点的吗？
yǒu diǎn guì. yǒu pián yí diǎn de ma

我们有二手的iPhone 5. 这个只有3000块钱.
wǒ men yǒu èr shǒu de iPhone 5. zhè ge zhǐ yǒu 3000 kuài qián

好，我要这个.
hǎo, wǒ yào zhè ge

你有中国的手机卡吗？
nǐ yǒu zhòng guó de shǒu jī kǎ ma

没有.
méi yǒu

你要移动还是联通的？
nǐ yào yí dòng hái shì lián tōng de

我不知道. 哪个最好的？
wǒ bù zhī dào. nǎ ge zuì hǎo de

我觉得联通最好.
wǒ jué dé lián tōng zuì hǎo

那我要那个吧.
nà wǒ yào nà gè ba

好的，一共3100块.
hǎo de, yī gòng 3100 kuài

你们买充值卡吗？
nǐ men mǎi chōng zhí kǎ ma

不好意思，我们不卖充值卡. 旁边的便利店应该有.
bù hǎo yì si, wǒ men bù mài chōng zhí kǎ. páng biān de biàn lì diàn yīng gāi yǒu

好，谢谢你！
Hǎo, xiè xiè nǐ

不客气!
bù kè qì

 

Next up, we’ll have a post with some common phone call language so you can start putting your new phone to use!