At $39.99 with a $3 coupon option for Amazon Prime members, the T95 Android 10.0 TV box might seem like a good value
But when an unsuspecting but cybersecurity-savvy customer ordered one up, he said it came "festooned" with malware
no extra charge >> all malware FREE
Daniel Milisic warned consumers in Reddit and GitHub posts that he just happened to have bought the box to run Pi-hole tracker blocking — and that he immediately made a startling discovery
https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/101k0eg/t95_android_tv_allwinner_h616_includes_malware/
And in July 2020, researchers at Malwarebytes raised the alarm that government-funded Android phones for low-income households came out of the box with preinstalled Chinese malware that was deemed incapable of being removed
just to name a few
Preinstalled Malware Isn't New
Hardware being sold with preinstalled and often unremovable malware is an ongoing issue for consumers. Researchers at Check Point, for instance, warned consumers back in 2017 that a telecom company was distributing more than 36 different Android devices preloaded with adware.
https://blog.checkpoint.com/2017/03/10/preinstalled-malware-targeting-mobile-users/
In 2018 Chinese PC maker Lenovo was ordered to pay millions in a class-action lawsuit over its laptops coming with preinstalled adware,
PDF
https://dd80b675424c132b90b3-e48385e382d2e5d17821a5e1d8e4c86b.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/external/lenovomotion-tosettle11jul2018.pdf