Exclusive: India plans new security testing for smar...

"Majority of smartphones used in India are having pre-installed Apps/Bloatware which poses serious privacy/information security issue(s)," stated a Feb. 8 confidential government record of an IT ministry meeting, seen by Reuters.

India's fast-growing smartphone market is dominated by Chinese players, with Xiaomi and BBK Electronics' Vivo and Oppo accounting for almost half of all sales, Counterpoint data shows. South Korea's Samsung has a 20% share and Apple has 3%.

While European Union regulations require allowing removal of pre-installed apps, it does not have a screening mechanism to check for compliance like India is considering.