Demand for ordinary (non-smart) phones in Israel surged by 200% last week, according to the Israeli importer of Nokia products. The increase in sales of "dumb" phones is believed to be driven by Israelis' concerns about sophisticated spying programs like Pegasus, following reports that police spied on civilians, according to the "Times of Israel." Devices that do not use smartphones have limited internet connectivity and therefore do not allow browsing of social media sites or messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger, and others, making them more difficult to hack.
According to data provided by the "Walla" news site, over 4,000 simple Nokia phones were purchased in the past three days. Typically, between 1,000 and 2,000 devices are sold in a regular week. Liav Ron, the manager of the Nokia brand, told "Walla" that there has been a significant increase in sales of old-generation phones, describing this surge as "crazy."
For its part, the "Times of Israel" published a tweet from Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who boasted about his "dumb" phone on Twitter. Lieberman said in his tweet: "For years, everyone has asked how I manage without a smartphone, and now everyone knows that I perform wonderfully!"
