State-owned Unicom, which is China's second-biggest mobile carrier, signed a three-year deal with the technology firm.
The two companies gave no financial details and did not say how much the iPhone would cost.
Unicom is the first Chinese phone company to formally support the iPhone, although thousands of unlocked iPhones brought in from other markets are in use in China.
Chang Xiaobin, Unicom chairman and CEO, said at a news conference: "We believe China Unicom's high-speed mobile broadband network, coupled with ... [the iPhone] will create new communication and different experiences for customers in China."
Apple has been trying for months to bring the iPhone to China's mobile phone market, which has over 650m subscribers.
The deal comes during the same week that .
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