China plans to expand a ban on the use of iPhones to government-backed agencies and companies
On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that China had banned the use of iPhones for central government officials and managers had been notifying staff of the ban via their companies’ chat groups or meetings.
On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that the bans had been extended to state-backed firms, including energy giant PetroChina, which employs millions of workers and controls vast measures of the Chinese economy.
Analysts at Bank of America wrote in a note on Thursday that the potential iPhone ban may be likely due to the new high-end flagship smartphone released by Chinese manufacturer Huawei. The timing, said the analysts, is “interesting.”
The US government on Tuesday declared it was investigating the new smartphone. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the United States needed “more information about precisely its character and composition” in order to determine if parties bypassed American restrictions on semiconductor exports to create the new chip.
Tech companies have been affected by the news, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping by about 0.9% on Thursday and the semiconductor sector falling by more than 2%. Apple also lost about $200 billion in two days, with its stock being the worst performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
This has caused investors to worry over the ability of the world’s most valuable public company to do business in the world’s second-largest economy.
