Zhejiang - In fact, it will pay you to give up your iPhone.
Published: Thu 27 Dec 2018, 2:27 PM
Updated: Thu 27 Dec 2018, 4:45 PM
Following the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, CFO of China's telecom giant Huawei, some companies announced they would favour Huawei devices over competitor Apple.
Wanzhou was arrested on December 1 in Canada at the request of the US on suspicion of violating sanctions on Iran. The arrest is seen by many in China as linked to the US-China trade tensions, and to US concern over China's technology advancement. Since the arrest of Wanzhou, who is also the daughter of Huawei founder, at least three Canadians have been detained in China, reported MSN.
Several Chinese companies are reportedly offering employees money to favour Huawei instead of Apple. Huawei is the world's biggest provider of telecom equipment and overtook Apple in smartphone sales in August.
According to a report from local newspaper Qianjiang Evening News, a Zhejiang-based technology company apparently took things a step further and said that staff purchasing Apple products will lose chances of promotion and company subsidies. The tech company announced this through an internal notice titled "An announcement about resisting Apple and supporting Huawei".
The company added that it would reimburse managerial staff who purchase a Huawei phone 50 per cent of the product's sticker price and will pay 20 per cent of the phone price for other employees.
The company announced 25 per cent reimbursement to those who give up their Apple phones to purchase a Huawei phone.
Besides company incentives for Huawei use, tourism spots are offering promotions for Chinese customers using Huawei and other domestic phone brands.
However, the 'favour Huawei' policy seems to have attracted mixed reactions on Chinese social media platform Weibo with one user questioning the legality of linking personal purchases to professional advancement.
Another Weibo user wrote: 'It's a staffer's personal freedom to choose a phone brand, it's personal and shouldn't be restricted by the company.
"It's certainly a good thing to support domestic products, it's good for the country and the staffers that the company rewards them to support domestic brands like Huawei, but no law supports penalizing a person for using an iPhone.. and taking away promotion chances and subsidies'.