Some examples include Pinduodo, an online retail app, and titles by Sogou, a Chinese equivalent to Google, The Telegraph said, citing local media. All of the apps are said to have violated App Store rules blocking companies from installing updates without delivering them through Apple's service.

Apple has been taking a hard stance on those rules for almost two years, so it's not clear what prompted the latest action. State media has however put pressure on Apple to control the App Store, and the government has periodically asked the company to censor apps such as VPN clients and The New York Times in order to smash dissent.

In August Apple culled some 25,000 Chinese apps, including about 4,000 related to gambling, which aren't permitted in that market.

The country is thought to account for nearly 40 percent of Apple's global app revenue, and in fact Apple is the only foreign app provider in China.

Source: appleinsider