Chinese smartphones caught spying on users

Chinese smartphones have been accused of collecting too much information. This is reported by The Register.

An international team of scientists analyzed popular smartphones from OnePlus, Xiaomi, Redmi, Oppo and Realme, popular in China and beyond. Experts said that devices created for the Celestial Empire market collect more information about the user. The results of the study are described in an article published in the arXiv preprint repository.

The experts examined the information transmitted by the operating system and system applications to exclude software installed by the user. Every Android phone with Chinese firmware had at least 30 third-party packages installed. In their opinion, additional software can be used for surveillance.

It turned out that phones constantly transmit various data, not only to the manufacturer, but to application providers and telecom operators. “In aggregate, this information creates serious risks of deanonymization of users and extensive surveillance,” the authors of the study noted.

So, it turned out that Redmi devices send data to the server every time the user opens one of the pre-installed applications. At the same time, data continues to be collected even if the owner of the gadget leaves the territory of China or stops using SIM cards of local operators. In addition, experts have found that Chinese smartphones have three to four times more apps preinstalled than Android devices made for other markets.

Earlier, experts from the analytical firm IDC said that smartphone sales in China reached a record low over the past 10 years. In 2022, 286 million devices were shipped to the Chinese market, down 13 percent from a year earlier.