The Chinese government has excluded Apple Inc. hardware products from its list of product that can be purchased with public money due to security concerns.

The Apple iPad, iPad Mini, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro were included on a list of 10 Apple products omitted from the final procurement list released by the National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Finance, according to a report in Bloomberg News.

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China has upped the ante in its growing conflict with the U.S. over claims of hacking and cyber spying by banning  Apple products along with products from other U.S. technology firms from its government purchase list.

Over the past months, China has declared Qualcomm a monopoly; launched investigations into Microsoft offices by alleging market domination and banned Microsoft software and security software Symantec and Kaspersky Labs.

Chinese analyst Mark Po said Beijing wants to make sure foreign companies don't have too much influence in China by stopping the procurement of their products.

Apple acquired 16 percent of its US$37.4 billion revenue from China in the last quarter.

iPad sales in China surged 51 percent and Mac sales by 39 percent, said chief executive officer Tim Cook on July 23.

Although the ban does not apply to the iPhone, the smartphone brand still triggered some controversy.

Tech website CNet said a Chinese researcher claimed that the iPhone could gather personal information from its users and was therefore a potential national security threat.

One of iPhone's features, Frequent Locations, was cited as an issue by privacy officials since the feature can track its user's current location. Apple has denied the claim.

Apple also declined to comment on issues regarding the ban of its hardware products.

The next review for the procurement list will be in January 2015. That means banned Apple products will not be available for Central Communist Party departments, government ministries and all local government purchases for the next six months.  

TagsApple Inc., Apple iPad, ipad mini, Macbook Air, National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Finance, Qualcomm, Symantec, Kaspersky, Tim Cook, Frequent Locations