Cell phones in a surviving USSR/Eastern Bloc?

[Reflection]

If the Soviet Union never fell, and cell phones became more common in the west to the point of becoming omnipresent and advancing to the iPhones we have now, how would this impact the USSR and the Eastern Bloc overall?

The USSR dissolved just as cell phones were becoming a thing in the west, and they were big blocky phones that were exclusive the upper classes. Assuming we get to the point where iPhones start to be made, how would this impact the USSR? Would they have their own equivalent to them?

I'm guessing that cell phones would be a highly coveted luxury item much like cars, that would you have to be put on a long waiting list for, in order to get one. Unless you have connections, in which case you can get a cell phone immediately (or at least sooner). Their designs would be based on iPhones, but would likely not have perfect parity with them, instead being behind by five or so years on average before there's an update. It goes without saying that politburo members would all get their own cell phones as one of the perks of power.

That is unless of course, the USSR liberalizes and allows for some private industry for things like this, in which case I can see cell phones becoming more commonplace like in China, but that's kind of a big "If".

What do you guys think would be the impact of modern cell phones in the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc?

 

[EasternRomanEmpire]

I think they wouldn't really be produced in the USSR unless for party members, they used all of their chips and electronics on the military and basically nothing for consumer goods.

 

[Hrvatskiwi]

I think cellphones would absolutely be used en masse. There are a number of benefits from satellite-based cellphone communication, and these are actually increased in places like Russia where there are large distances between settlements.

A lot of the specific details depend on the extent of the intelligence and security state's involvement in civilian affairs. I think it would be taken for granted that surveillance equipment would be secretly installed in all phones, and that "jailbreaking" them would be a punishable offence.

 

[Dan]

I think the best example of what might happen is what happened in China.
Government lockdown on phone apps, only approved apps being available on a carefully controlled app store. Forget any encrypted apps like WhatsApp or Telegram unless the Security Services had a back door into them.

 

[trainvoi]

I think the best example of what might happen is what happened in China.
Government lockdown on phone apps, only approved apps being available on a carefully controlled app store. Forget any encrypted apps like WhatsApp or Telegram unless the Security Services had a back door into them.

Pretty sure apps in China are free to distribute, as long as
a. It doesn't try to bypass the firewall (the exceptions to this rule is government-approved VPNs)
b. It doesn't deface the government or spouting known anti-government slogans (no 'fuck the CCP' apps in the store)
If an app bypassed these rules, but then change their description/content to violate these rules, either Chinese netizen might report it or the censorship bureau removes the app themselves.

Given most phones in China run on a variant of Android, people can just share the .apk files. I know some Chinese NSFW artists use custom apps to allow paid users to access the locked artwork. The reason for the custom app was to avoid locked artwork leaking to known sites hosting paywall content leaks,

 

[JaguarCD]

The internet would not be used for crimes as much without the Soviet Union falling and 9/11 happening to create ISIS. I could see mobile communications not being used as much either.

The dark web would mostly be a place for ideological dissidents, and not criminals as defined by most countries' laws, though usages of it for such purposes would still happen. Events like Andrew Tate using darknets for human trafficking since possibly 2011 would not have happened.

 

[Aisha Clan-Clan]

Probably even more hurtcore being distributed/other cybercrime than even OTL. After all, the USSR/WarPac nations would need hard currency...