India plans to force smartphone makers to allow the removal of preinstalled apps and mandate screening of major operating system updates under proposed new security rules, according to two people and a government document.
The new rules, details of which have not been previously reported, could extend launch timelines in the world’s No. 2 smartphone market and lead to losses in business from preinstalled apps for players including Samsung Electronics Co, Xiaomi Corp (小米), Vivo Communication Technology Co (維沃) and Apple Inc.
The Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is considering these new rules amid concerns about spying and abuse of user data, said a senior government official, declining to be named as the information is not yet public.
Photo: Reuters
“Preinstalled apps can be a weak security point and we want to ensure no foreign nations, including China, are exploiting it. It’s a matter of national security,” the official added.
India has ramped up scrutiny of Chinese businesses since a 2020 border clash between the neighbors, banning more than 300 Chinese apps, including TikTok. It has also intensified scrutiny of investments by Chinese firms.
Globally, many nations have imposed restrictions on the use of technology from Chinese firms such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Hikvision Digital Technology Co (海康威視) on fears Beijing could use them to spy on foreign citizens. China denies the allegations.
Most smartphones come with preinstalled apps that cannot be deleted, such as Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi’s app store GetApps, Samsung’s payment app Samsung Pay mini and iPhone maker Apple’s browser Safari.
Under the new rules, smartphone makers would have to provide an uninstall option and new models would be checked for compliance by a lab authorized by the Bureau of Indian Standards, two people with knowledge of the plan said.
The government is also considering mandating screening of every major operating system update before it is rolled out to consumers, one of the people said.
“Majority of smartphones used in India are having preinstalled apps/bloatware which poses serious privacy/information security issue[s],” a Feb. 8 confidential government record of an IT ministry meeting showed.
The closed-door meeting was attended by representatives from Xiaomi, Samsung, Apple and Vivo, the meeting record showed.
The government has decided to give smartphone makers a year to comply once the rule goes into effect, the date for which has not been fixed yet, the document added.
India’s fast-growing smartphone market is dominated by Chinese players, with Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀) accounting for almost half of all sales, Counterpoint data showed.
South Korea’s Samsung has a 20 percent share and Apple has 3 percent.
While EU regulations require allowing removal of preinstalled apps, it does not have a screening mechanism to check for compliance like India is considering.
An industry executive said that some preinstalled apps such as the camera are critical to user experience and the government must make a distinction between these and nonessential ones when imposing screening rules.
Smartphone players often sell their devices with proprietary apps, but also sometimes preinstall others with which they have monetization agreements.
The other worry is more testing could prolong approval timelines for smartphones, a second industry executive said.
It takes about 21 weeks for a smartphone and its parts to be tested by the government agency for safety compliance.
“It’s a massive hindrance to a company’s go-to market strategy,” the executive said.
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