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China is intensifying its ban on foreign smartphones in government offices. Several Chinese agencies and state-backed firms have ordered employees to stop bringing Apple iPhones, Samsung Galaxy phones, and other non-Chinese devices to the workplace. These “verbal directives” were issued in at least eight provinces over the past month or so, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
China bans Samsung and Apple phones from government offices
The ties between the US and China, the world’s two largest economies, have worsened in recent years. The two countries are fighting a trade war that escalated in 2019 after the Donald Trump-led US government placed the Chinese electronics giant Huawei in its Entity List. The sanctions cut off the firm’s access to the latest foreign technologies, limiting its business scope and competitiveness.
The US has continued to tighten its sanctions on Huawei and is also exploring a ban on TikTok. The Chinese-origin video app is already banned from government devices in most states. China, meanwhile, is increasingly becoming self-sufficient in the field of technology. A robust domestic supply chain has enabled Huawei to stand up and fight its way back into the global smartphone scene.
While it is still far from where it was before the 2019 US sanctions, the Chinese government is helping its cause. Xi Jinping’s administration has long banned foreign devices from sensitive government departments. Other official agencies and firms are now following suit. Bloomberg’s sources have confirmed such directives in provinces along the prosperous coastal region and other parts of the country.
The scale of this ban is unknown, i.e., how many agencies have ordered their employees against bringing Apple and Samsung phones to the office is unclear. However, China hasn’t passed any written law to ban foreign devices from government offices. “China has not issued laws and regulations to ban the purchase of Apple or foreign brands’ phones,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said in September.
iPhone sales are already declining in China
This ban will affect Apple more than Samsung. Despite being the world’s biggest smartphone company, the latter has a negligible presence in the world’s largest smartphone market (less than a two percent market share). On the other hand, Apple generates about a fifth of its smartphone revenue from China. It produces the majority of iPhones in the world’s largest country, though it is gradually shifting away.
As the US-China trade war intensifies, Apple is becoming collateral damage. Studies have shown that iPhone sales in China are dropping. The iPhone 15 series is selling worse than the previous generation. The more China pushes for self-sufficiency, the bigger will be the impact on Apple. The company’s CEO Tim Cook is trying to maintain a healthy relationship with Beijing but those efforts may not help.
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