A health care firm called Nanyang Yongkang in the Henan province of the People's Republic of China has given its staff a memo in which it tells them not buy an iPhone 7 or the iPhone 7 Plus, that is if they want to keep their job.
The company had good reasons. According to Digital Trends, Nanyang Yongkang only wants employees to spend their hard-earned money on family than on a pricey smartphone.
Many news from around the world are actually hoaxes or have merely been exaggerated, and it's easy to think that this could be one of them. After all, it seems extremely bizarre to fire an employee for patronizing a certain product. The company, however, has actually verified the dissemination of the memo.
No iPhone 7 Policy
Apparently, the memo came from the company chairman, who clarified that he didn't have an issue against iPhone or its maker, Apple. It was a matter of being patriotic (the regulation coincides with the commemoration of the 85th anniversary of the Japanese invasion of north east China), and not letting oneself be seduced by materialism.
"If you break this rule, then just come to the office straight away to hand in your resignation," said the memo, according to the BBC. Another institution, a hospital, has also taken the same stance, banning some workers for buying the smartphone.
iPhone 7 Reality in China
As these actions continue to spread, some people have commented that these could be harmful to China economy. After this case appeared on the news, a user called Bibibidou was quoted as saying by the BBC: "This could cause the Foxconn Company to collapse and thousands of people would be unemployed. That's not even mentioning the losses it could cause to domestic parts suppliers."
The truth is that Apple is having a rough time in China, as it struggles to gain acceptance in the market. It ranks fifth among popular smartphone makers, behind Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi, according to Digital Trends.
