14 DAY TRIAL // China isn’t exactly the market where Apple feels like home and this thing is even more obvious now after the launch of the iPhone 7 when several companies are planning to fire workers who purchase the new model.
Although it might not make sense at all at first glance, there are several reasons why firms in China are fighting to stop employees from buying the new iPhone.
First of all, it’s because Chinese are trying to be patriotic, so they claim that by boycotting foreign products, they can thus encourage workers to purchase devices manufactured locally.
This is the case of Henan-based firm Nanyang Yongkang Medicine Company, which has already submitted notifications to its workers to tell them that buying the iPhone 7 is strictly forbidden. “If you break this rule, then just come to the office straight way to hand in your resignation,” it says according to the BBC.
But without a doubt, such an approach could easily backfire for China, as many of the components on the iPhone are manufactured in local production plants owned by Foxconn. If the iPhone doesn’t sell well, it could impact Foxconn directly, and this could, in the end, affect Chinese employment rate.
You'd better no get used to expensive gadgets
But leaving this reason aside, there are also Chinese firms which claim that banning workers from buying the iPhone doesn’t have anything to do with patriotism, but with spending too much on expensive gadgets.
“iPhone 7 has recently come onto the market and the price is a record high among the similar mobiles. In order to promote thrift and avoid waste, the hospital administration office has made a decision: we ban our staff from buying iPhone 7s,” a hospital in Chongqing explained in a notification sent to staff.
“I'm not against foreign brands but I don't like to see people buying expensive iPhones that they can't obviously afford. Some people borrow money from banks or family and friends, others even sell their organs to buy iPhones. I don't want my staff to do such things,” the hospital manager added for the BBC.
In the meantime, however, Apple is trying to expand in China and benefit from the local growing demand for smartphones, with the company planning to open a $45 million research and development center in Beijing.
According to third-party data offered by Kantar, the Chinese market is dominated by Android with a market share of 85 percent (July 2016), while iOS is the runner-up, but far behind, with just 14.3 percent.