A Chinese worker committed suicide in Shenzhen, South of China on July 16 on learning he was suspected of leaking company secrets. The incident sparked a web firestorm in China and has provoked criticism of Apple’s intensely secretive culture.

Apple's iPhones are made in south China by its contract manufacturing partner Foxconn International, a unit of Taiwan electronics giant Hon Hai.

According to a report in a state-run Southern Metropolis Daily, one of the rejoin's most popular newspapers, the Chinese worker named Sun Danyong, 25-year-old, he was missing one of the 16 fourth-generation iPhones in his possession on July 13.

The report said Foxconn security guards searched his apartment, detained him and beat him. In the early morning of July 16, Sun jumped from the 12th floor of his apartment building.

Foxconn said in a statement that Sun had joined the company in 2008 after earning a degree in business management. He moved from his native Yunnan province to Shenzhen.

We are saddened by the tragic loss of a young employee and we are awaiting the results of the investigation into his death, Apple said in a statement released in the United States on Tuesday, declining further comment.

We require that our suppliers treat all workers with dignity and respect, it added.

Apple Inc said it was awaiting results from an investigation into the death of the worker, declining further comment.

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