China wants to ban the use of iPhones by government officials. The measure will hit Apple equally hard in the wallet.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Beijing is considering an iPhone ban for government officials. From now on, they are no longer allowed to use their iPhone during working hours or even have it with them in the office. The official reason is that the iPhone poses a possible threat to national security, although China may want to rein in the domestic smartphone brands’ biggest competitor.

According to Reuters, the new law will not immediately be strictly enforced. Reuters spoke to several government sources. He confirmed that a strict deadline for banning iPhones had not yet been set and that one of the sources knew nothing about it. China would consider extending the ban to state-owned companies, writes Bloomberg.

200 billion dollars

The ban has unpleasant financial consequences for Apple. Within days, $200 billion of its market capitalization disappeared in smoke. The stock price fell nearly six percent this week since the Wall Street Journal broke the news.

The effects do not need to be overstated either. For a company with a market cap of around $3 trillion, $200 billion is a no-brainer. Nor is it the case that Apple, where it is the third-largest player, will disappear from the Chinese market overnight. The iPhone 15 launch could start on a small note.

an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth

Apple’s partial ban is another move in the geopolitical chess game between Washington and Beijing. For every action by one of the parties, a counter reaction rarely takes long. China is now using the same argument to ban Apple in the public sector as the US did against TikTok a few years ago. Both camps are not yet ready to bury the hatchet.