The controversial move came after Proview claimed it held the rights to the iPad name in China. However, Apple maintains that it bought Proview’s worldwide rights to the trademark in 10 different countries several years ago.

Apple’s iPad has a huge slice of the tablet market in China with a 76 per cent share. Lenovo Group and Samsung Electronics will certainly be looking to boost their numbers as the ban kicks in, having only 7 per cent and 3 per cent shares respectively.

‘Apple’s loss could be Lenovo and Samsung’s gains,’ Jonathan Ng, an analyst at Malaysian financial services company CIMB, told the Reuters news agency.

The supply chain for the iPad could also be severely affected, as all supplies of the device come from China. A report in The Independent newspaper in the UK suggests that Proview may seek up to 10 billion Yuan (£1bn) in compensation from the US giants to relinquish the trademark.

Censorship

Meanwhile, fellow Fleet Street newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported the latest concerns around Internet censorship laws in China as the it suggested that Chinese censors have erased coverage a £3.7million donation to Cambridge University. Although Cambridge did not find evidence of a link between the unknown ‘Chong Hua’ foundation and the Chinese Government, it has since been revealed that China’s state-backed censorship machine has moved to erase the story in China.

This has renewed suggestions that the Chinese government is attempting to buy influence at Britain’s leading university.