I remember a story about a team from Microsoft going to a hard drive or laptop factory in China, they found that they all had malware and trojans installed.... IN THE FACTORY!!
China CCP has deemed numerous Intel, and other processors as security risks. They think, (supposedly) that the US is putting back doors in them. But the fact is, that they are engaging in that with the replacement processors, giving them root level access to whatever it powers..
Anyone who thinks their version of consumer level electronics is secure in this climate of electronic eavesdropping is fooling themselves.
It's bad enough that even with a dumb phone the authorities in the US have access to the data revealing your calls, as it comes from the carrier, be it AT&T, Verizon or whomever, they can also track your location, and with a bit of additional data they know exactly where you are, when you got there and who you are likely with. The idea that this requires a warrant by a judge who gives a damn is a fallacy.
Technically in this day and age, they can generally collect data without a rubber stamped warrant, read it and use it for everything but a court room. And they built a huge data collection center to house it so they can browse through updated data as long as they have clearance to do so.
Smart phones, are a time saving tool for some, but they all have inherent risks. They make it far too easy to collect tons of useful data in the right hands,(or in the wrong hands) and I am not talking about your local grocery.
Desktops and laptops are bad enough. Yahoo, Google, and their associated services are bad enough. But at least they can only track you to the IP, assuming you don't use something as a mirror or false IP. But a consumer smart phone in your pocket is a danger not just to you, but to your company and associates as well.
It irks me that companies and some individuals in the US and abroad are not yet very concerned about this. Perhaps it's because they see no direct link between corporate spying and the individual phone. but I think this is changing. Unfortunately, the US has been a sucker for information gathering during the last 70 years.
The word “data” has only four letters but it means everything. The data harvested from phones compliments the data from corporate hacks and malware. It's just one tool in the box. But it's a productive one.
If our own government was not so paranoid, it would allow for better security in our electronic devices, but since they are so paranoid, they don't want anyone to have something they can't access. But they sure won't admit that.
It's the same everywhere you go, so we and China are not so unique.