Companies in China are increasingly imposing restrictions on the use of Apple’s iPhone, intensifying the ban.
(Reuters) – More Chinese agencies and state-backed companies across the country have asked their staff not to bring Apple iPhones and other foreign devices to work, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
For more than a decade, China has sought to reduce reliance on foreign technologies, asking state-owned subsidiaries such as banks to switch to local software and promoting domestic semiconductor chip manufacturing.
Several state companies and ministries in at least eight provinces have advised workers in the past month or two to start carrying local brands, a Bloomberg News report said.
Apple did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
In December, smaller companies and agencies in lower-tier cities in provinces such as Zhejiang, Shandong, Liaoning and central Hebei, home to the world’s largest iPhone factory, issued their own verbal instructions, a Bloomberg News report said.
Reuters reported in September that staff at at least three ministries and government agencies were told not to use iPhones at work.
