Apple confirms death of iPhone worker in China
Update at 10:15 a.m. PDT: Comment from Apple added.
Apple confirmed on Tuesday the death of a man who worked at an iPhone plant in China.
According to various Chinese media reports, the worker at Chinese manufacturer Foxconn committed suicide last week after a fourth-generation iPhone prototype for which he was responsible went missing.
"We are saddened by the tragic loss of this young employee, and we are awaiting results of the investigations into his death," Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet told CNET on Tuesday. "We require our suppliers to treat all workers with dignity and respect."
Apple did not comment on the details of the worker's death, allegations regarding Foxconn's questioning of the worker, or the status of the allegedly missing phone prototype.
Various English-language sites have been repeating and translating Chinese media reports.
According to Chinese media, 25-year-old Sun Danyong was responsible for shipping iPhone prototypes to Apple. Danyong reported the missing device to Foxconn after realizing that one of the 16 iPhones he received was no longer in his possession.
Foxconn is Apple's longtime manufacturing partner in China. Apple has used the company to manufacture all of its iPods and, more recently, all of the iPhone models.
Foxconn did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Jim Dalrymple has followed Apple and the Mac industry for the last 15 years, first as part of MacCentral and then in various positions at Macworld. Jim also writes about the professional audio market, examining the best ways to record music using a Macintosh. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. He currently runs The Loop. You can follow him on Twitter @jdalrymple. 






- by mgabrys July 21, 2009 1:37 PM PDT
- "Hi, I'm a PC and I don't torture wage-slaves in China"<br /><br />Apple's response it pathetic. If they had any morals, they'd go with ANY other manufacturer on EARTH. This isn't the first time Foxconn was brought up on abusing workers. <br /><br />Beating up workers to the point of suicide (or throwing them out the window) - we have an iPhone app for that! Makes baby shaker look like a Disney app.<br /><br />In the meantime I get to look at my shiny apple iPhone - dipped in blood that Apple finds "regretful". Know what I regret doing? Buying my iPhone from a bunch of morally bankrupt middle management ******** who care none for "little people" and even less for "little yellow people".<br /><br />I had no idea Steve Jobs was of proud cold German stock.
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- by geotopia July 21, 2009 2:20 PM PDT
- Ooh, I can see a major motion picture in a few years, "Blood Phone". Set in China, where a young factory worker slips an iPhone off the assembly line and swallows it whole to smuggle it out of the factory. Hey, maybe that's how THIS guy died!? He was just fine and then some "shake-the-baby" app went off as the phone passed through his large intestine and the GPS signal stopped his heart! Have they conducted an autopsy?
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- by Eddie-c July 21, 2009 4:14 PM PDT
- He didn't swallow it - it went somewhere else. ouch. ;)
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- by Seaspray0 July 22, 2009 7:37 AM PDT
- @eddie-c. After you swallow something, it always ends up somewhere else.
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- by The_Decider July 22, 2009 11:01 AM PDT
- And how many PC's are not made in Asia? What about those substandard parts that OEM's use?
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- by McAdams July 22, 2009 10:24 PM PDT
- What a sad, miserable, idiot you are. People die everyday all over the world in all sorts of businesses. It's called 'life"--no guarantees of immortality. Your statement obviously shows lack of intellect. <br /><br />It's also sad that you are allowed to make such an asinine statement without backing it up with facts.<br /><br />Apple has always put out quality products that other companies are constantly copying or trying to emulate (Windows, for example?;Aqua interface; iPhone?)<br /><br />If you don't like Apple or the iPhone, please spew your vomit elsewhere. But please don't take this personally.
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Showing 1 of 3 pages (120 Comments)