The Apple iPhone6 Plus and some other smartphones have less storage capacity than they claim, and some of them come with pre-installed apps, the Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission said yesterday.
Of the 20 models tested, "some" had apps already installed, it said, adding that the programs also "stole" data without their owners' knowledge.
A Nokia 925 phone that claimed to have 16 gigabytes of storage was found to have only 11.39Gb, the study said.
Similarly, a Xiaomi Redmi Note phone claimed to have 8Gb of storage but had only 4.82Gb of usable space.
Likewise, a 16Gb Samsung SM-N9008S and an iPhone 6 Plus, both advertised as having 16Gb of storage had just 11.47Gb and 11.2Gb of space, respectively, the study said.
Some of the apps are "not necessary," the commission said, adding that most of them can't be uninstalled, it said.
Meanwhile, the commission also claimed that smartphone apps frequently consume data without even being on.
In a 120-hour test of 10 unspecified smartphones nine were found to have consumed data from the moment they were activated.
One of the models consumed about 68Mb of data during the opening and network registration of an Internet connection, it said.
Some apps consume data as soon as the phone is turned on, said Ning Hai, the commission's deputy secretary-general.
Another poll of 1,838 smartphones found that 72 percent had pre-installed apps that couldn't be uninstalled.
