Tech Titans Clash: Apple, Google, and Samsung Push Back Against India’s Expanded Smartphone Surveillance

India's push for deeper access to smartphone data is meeting fierce resistance from the industry's biggest players. Apple, Google, and Samsung are drawing a line in the sand, arguing that proposed surveillance expansions threaten user privacy and global security standards.

The Core Conflict: Encryption vs. State Access

At the heart of the standoff is a fundamental tension. Governments worldwide want backdoors to encrypted communications for national security. Tech giants counter that weakening encryption for one government weakens it for all—opening billions of users to hackers and bad actors. It's a security model built on a fortress, and these companies are refusing to hand over the master key.

Market Forces in Play

India isn't just any market—it's the world's second-largest smartphone arena. Forcing compliance here could set a global precedent, prompting other governments to make similar demands. The tech titans know the stakes: capitulate in one major economy, and the dominoes could fall everywhere. Their unified front is less about altruism and more about protecting a business model reliant on user trust—a trust that evaporates the moment a device is seen as an extension of state surveillance.

A Provocative Balance

Privacy advocates hail the pushback as a necessary defense of digital rights. Security officials argue it handcuffs lawful investigations. The truth, as always, lies somewhere in the messy middle. But one thing is clear: when the world's most valuable companies unite against a policy, it's rarely just about principles—it's about the bottom line. After all, nothing tanks a stock price faster than a headline about your product being a spy tool, unless, of course, that's the explicit business model—looking at you, social media.

The outcome of this clash will ripple far beyond India's borders, shaping the future of privacy, security, and who ultimately controls the device in your pocket.

Apple and Google reject India’s telecom industry proposal  

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), representing major carriers like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel presented the proposal.

According to Reuters, referencing to internal government emails from June, telecom companies want precise user locations provided through A-GPS technology, which uses both satellite signals and cellular data and can allow tracking accurate to within about one meter. 

Currently, authorities can only use cellular tower data that can only estimate location within several meters. 

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was forced to withdraw an order requiring all smartphones to come with a state-run cyber safety app already installed on it, with no option to delete it. However, activists and politicians raised alarms about potential government snooping, which led to the policy’s quick reversal, according to reporting by Cryptopolitan.

Apple, Samsung, and Google also told the Indian government not to force the installation of the app. The India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA), representing both Apple and Google, sent a confidential letter to authorities in July arguing that the proposal has no precedent anywhere in the world and would constitute “regulatory overreach.”

The tech companies stated that A-GPS network services are “not deployed or supported for location surveillance” in their letter. They warned of significant “legal, privacy, and national security concerns,” noting their user base includes military personnel, judges, corporate executives, and journalists who handle sensitive information. 

Permanently enabled location tracking could compromise their security.

“This proposal would see phones operate as a dedicated surveillance device,” Digital forensics expert, Junade Ali, from Britain’s Institution of Engineering and Technology, said. 

Cooper Quintin, a security researcher at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, called the idea “pretty horrifying” and said he had not heard of any similar proposal elsewhere.

Apple recently sent cyber threat notifications to users in 84 countries on December 2, warning them they may have been targeted by state-backed hackers. Apple has now notified users in over 150 countries about potential surveillance threats. 

Why do India’s telecom companies want this change? 

India’s Modi administration has expressed frustration for years that government agencies cannot obtain precise locations when making legal requests to telecom firms during investigations. The current cellular tower system can only provide estimated area locations, which are less efficient for surveillance operations.

Smartphone makers worsen the issue by displaying pop-up messages alerting users that “your carrier is trying to access your location.” 

The COAI believes the message alerts the target to the fact that they are being tracked by security agencies. The telecom group is urging the government to order phone makers to disable these notification features entirely.

Apple and Google’s lobby group argued in their July letter that these notifications “ensure transparency and user control over their location.”

India’s home ministry scheduled a meeting with top smartphone industry executives for Friday to discuss the matter, but it was postponed. At this point, no policy decision has been made by India’s IT or home ministries. 

India is the world’s second-largest mobile market and had 735 million smartphones as of mid-2025. Google’s Android powers more than 95% of these devices, with Apple’s iOS accounting for the remainder. Any policy decision would affect hundreds of millions of users and set a potential precedent for government surveillance capabilities worldwide.

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