North Korea has recently announced the releasing of its new smartphone, the Jindallae 6. The phone is but a number of new devices released in the country over the past few years, which typically run on edited versions of the Android operating system. According to DPRK linked account “coldnoodlefan” the phone comes with “with various functions including facial, voice, fingerprint recognition technologies”
How the DPRK obtains the materials, including advanced computer chips, semi-conductors and software licensing to create such phones remain unknown, not least due to the scale international of sanctions which have blocked the import of high-technology equipment and metals into the country. Yet the versions of the smartphones on offer keep upgrading, with the latest phone being considerably better than the initial “Arirang” device released in 2016.
Such phones do have data and internet capabilities, but are confined to the DPRK’s exclusive “Intranet” and have no access to the outside world, utilizing built in domestic browser apps such as Naenara (my country) instead of Google. It is increasingly common nonetheless to see North Koreans playing smartphone games around Pyongyang.
