China Telecom Unveils Two ‘Quantum Smartphone’ Handsets & to Launch ‘Quantum SimCards’ for Phones Already on Market

(ChinaTelecom) China Telecom, the state-owned carrier, has unveiled two “quanatum smartphone” handsets claiming that calls from and to these devices as well as the data flowing through them would be unhackable.
China Telecom Vice-President Zhang Zhiyong said the two “quantum smartphones,” based on Huawei and ZTE’s flagship models, would be pitched at high-end users such as celebrities, executives and government officials who would value super-fast performance and, more importantly, “foolproof” privacy and data protection.
Zhang said the quantum phones would hit the market by the end of the year.
Yet the two models appear to be only modestly upgraded versions of Huawei’s Mate 40 and ZTE’s Axon 20 handsets, with a “quantum encryption chip” being the only new drawcard, according to a specification leaflet viewed by Asia Times. A user can switch between two modes – regular cellular service or an encrypted mode – when making a call according to a specification leaflet viewed by Asia Times. A user can switch between two modes – regular cellular service or an encrypted mode – when making a call.
China Telecom will also launch “quantum SIM cards” to enable similar encryption protection on phones already on the market. But to enable such encrypted calls and messaging, the other end user will also need such a SIM card.