Tech & Biz

iPhone Suicide: FoxConn Worker Sun Danyong Lost iPhone Prototype

by Jordan Yerman | July 22, 2009 at 07:10 am

853 views | 32 Recommendations | 5 comments

Sun Danyong, a worker at the Foxconn factory, which manufactures the iPhone, has committed suicide. Police are investigating the case, in which the employee was supposedly pressured over the loss of an iPhone 4G prototype.

When Sun Danyong sent the 16 prototypes to California this month, only 15 arrived, and Foxconn allegedly treated Sun as though he stole the missing handset. Sun Danyong apparently jumped from the top of a 12-storey building.

His former classmates told Chinese newspapers that during the investigation into the missing phone he was beaten, his house was searched and he was locked up in a room.

In an online chat with his friends, he described his experience as one of the most humiliating in his life.

Sun Danyong was also harassed by a security official at the factory, and so the police are treating this as a possible murder case.

Sun Danyong, 25, was tasked with sending 16 fourth-generation iPhone prototypes to Apple this month, but Apple only received 15 when the package arrived, according to Chinese media. Sun reportedly leaped from his apartment window last week, though police are investigating whether he may have been murdered, the Shanghai Daily said.

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Paschen

at 07:30 on July 22nd, 2009

This is horrible!! iPhone prototype or not, due process has to prevail.

I hope that Those responsible for this at Foxconn will be triad and jailed for a very long time.

Even if it was Suicide, it was in this case forced on and should be seen as murder.

I hope Apple will cancel their contract or i may cancel my Apple.

Amy Judd

at 12:49 on July 22nd, 2009

What a sad waste of life.

Roy C

at 14:33 on July 22nd, 2009

The corporate mentality at work. They "know" who took it and why. I had a boss like that just a few years ago. She never investigated. She always prosecuted right from the very first inkling that something needed to be straightened out.

fxnsb (not verified)

at 20:12 on July 22nd, 2009

I worked with Foxconn China many years, so I understand why Sun killed himself.

1) We worked in Foxconn at least 10 hours a day, and sometimes 16 hours a day. We had to work on weekend, otherwise they only gave us half of salary.

2) If you made a mistake, the boss (especially taiwan boss) blamed you and sometimes they beat you, and if you are a beatiful girl, the taiwan boss will touch your breast.

3) A person who made a mistake, and security guard captured him into a solitary room, and used a small knife hurt him every day, and no food for 6 days, untill that guy got schizophrenia.

Apple is accessary in this event!

Apple is a terrible company, I will never buy Apple's product!

Don't buy iPhone, because iPhone is full of blood!!

sarakski (not verified)

at 06:16 on September 9th, 2009

Did it every occur to anyone that this guy was murdered? If they beat him, they could have easily thrown him out the window. None of us would ever know. Maybe Apple does though.