The Russian government’s purchases of iPhones for January through September were four times higher than the same period in 2023, the Russian publication Vedomosti reports — as noted by Reuters. This is despite certain officials being banned from using Apple devices.
In June Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had uncovered an American espionage operation that compromised thousands of iPhones using sophisticated surveillance software. Apple denied the claim.
Now Vedomosti, citing an unnamed representative of the Tenderplan trading platform, said the value of contracts involving iPhones for the first three quarters of the year amounted to 6.9 million roubles (about US$71,469). That’s up from 1.6 million roubles the year before.
