Smartphone companies, especially Chinese OEMs, have often been caught sharing private user data through various means. Although it seems to be a general trend among Chinese brands, two names particularly stand out in this regard: OnePlus and ZTE.
Both companies, while popular in emerging markets and known for aggressive pricing and specs, have a documented history of controversial data practices and security lapses, some of which may put users’ private videos, photos, and messages at risk.
So if you’re someone who cares about data privacy, steering clear of these brands is recommended.
Once hailed as a flagship killer, OnePlus has a long and troubling history with user data.
In 2017, the company was caught quietly collecting sensitive telemetry from its phones, including IMEIs, MAC addresses, and app usage stats, without explicit user consent. Around the same time, it was revealed that an internal app called “EngineerMode” acted as a root backdoor, letting anyone with physical access take complete control of the device.
More recently, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers in 2025 asked the Commerce Department to investigate whether OnePlus phones secretly transmit personal data, including screen recordings, to servers in China. While the company denies wrongdoing and no concrete evidence has surfaced publicly, cybersecurity experts warn that even passive telemetry can compromise user privacy if mishandled or intercepted.
Add to that two major e-commerce data breaches (2018 and 2019) that exposed customer names, emails, and addresses, and the pattern becomes hard to ignore.
While ZTE does not have the same amount of private data sharing history as the other two, there are still some undeniable allegations against the company. Just like Huawei, ZTE has been banned from doing business in the US for apparently violating sanctions and enabling government surveillance through its products.
The Chinese phone maker was added to the US Entity List back in 2018 by the Commerce Department and still remains highly restricted in the US and European markets to this day.
Yes, especially if you’re sharing sensitive files, storing private videos, or using your device for work-related communication. Neither ZTE nor OnePlus has demonstrated a consistent commitment to transparency or secure-by-design software engineering.
While no single incident alone proves deliberate spyware behavior, the consistent emergence of factory-installed malware, silent data transmission, exploitable apps, and vague responses to disclosure paint a troubling picture.