China ordered officials at central government agencies not to use Apple’s iPhones and other foreign-branded devices for work or bring them into the office, people familiar with the matter said.
In recent weeks, staff were given the instructions by their superiors in workplace chat groups or meetings, the people said. The directive is the latest step in Beijing’s campaign to cut reliance on foreign technology and enhance cybersecurity, and comes amid a campaign to limit flows of sensitive information outside of China’s borders.
The move by Beijing could have a chilling effect for foreign brands in China, including Apple. Apple dominates the high-end smartphone market in the country and counts China as one of its biggest markets, relying on it for about 19% of its overall revenue.
iPhones are, for all intents and purposes, a Chinese product. It seems odd they are afraid of a device that’s entirely built by Chinese people in Chinese factories owned by Chinese companies run by the Chinese government. An iPhone is about as American as a MAGA hat with a Made in China label, so why ban its use by Chinese government officials?
The answer is obvious: because the west is banning the use of Huawei and other devices – even though those are made by the same Chinese people in the same Chinese factories owned by the same Chinese companies run by the same Chinese government as iPhones are. This is a tug of war between two superpowers, and western companies heavily reliant on China, such as Apple, is going to be facing some serious consequences.
When it comes to cybersecurity, the two most important components in an iPhone are the SoC ( System-on-a-Chip – the CPU ) and the WiFi / Cellular modules ( communication equipment ).
For the iPhone, the SoC is designed by Apple and manufactured by TMSC ( I assume in Taiwan ). The radios are Broadcom which are both US designed and manufactured I believe. These components are “black box” to China and they are “American”. China cannot really know for sure what these components are doing.
Even the glass for an iPhone is made by Corning in the US I believe. They are trying to source parts from India but I think they have had quality problems with that.
The iPhone is certainly assembled in China but not much of the technology is Chinese or under the control of the Chinese government ( unless you think they are swapping out parts ). From a cybersecurity point of view, the iPhone is not a very Chinese device.
So, while I do not debate your reasoning on the real rationale for this move, the iPhone is certainly not nearly as Chinese as a MAGA hat. An iPhone is not Chinese controlled technology like a Huawei phone is. It is not at all unreasonable that China would be concerned about the security implications of their government officials using iPhones. Given the AI and communications capabilities that an iPhone has, this policy is perfectly reasonable in my view. Key American officials should not use the Chinese stuff either.
The other important aspect of course is that USING an iPhone means using all kinds of services that flow through Apple ( in other words through an American controlled entity ). Apple can say that iMessage is encrypted and that they do not read what is being transmitted. If you are China, how strongly do you want to bet that the NSA is not reading your iMessages or GPS data?
It seems strange to defend China here. I am not fan of China. Perhaps that is why we should be accurate here. It is important that we stay factual when dealing with China. They are a risk.
tanishaj,
I feel the same way. I am very critical of China’s fascist government, but it’s still important to do our best in striving for factual accuracy even if those facts are inconvenient. Hyper partisan politics have gotten so out of hand lately that people are willing to completely ignore facts in their opinions. Such attitudes pose a grave danger to democracy itself IMHO.
Thom Holwerda,
IMHO things are more nuanced than that. Yes, the iphone is manufactured in china, but the SoC designs and software are controlled by apple and this is a legitimate risk for China.
I agree, the same rational goes both ways. We’ve banned their technology over national security and it makes sense that they should ban ours. IMHO it is very likely the NSA are spying on Chinese officials through western technology. Just because our technology is built in China doesn’t necessarily mean that China can/should trust it.
I think that, beyond the fear the Chinese government has that the West is spying on them through iPhones, the Chinese government wants the ability to spy on their own executives and they can only do that reliably using Chinese government controlled devices. This means no American or Korean devices, even if they are made in China.
Morgan,
Interesting and plausible 🙂
Ordinarily I think of chinese targets being activists, journalists and such, but I can see how they might want to spy on their own business and political leaders too to keep them on a tight leash.