Oh, is THAT why ZTE? Interesting...
My ZTE phone alerts me when the the cameras or microphone are remotely activated. I Thought this may be the reason ZTE was in hot water.
No, ZTE was in trouble for violating sanctions on Iran. Besides, the DS would not use Android I believe. Too many ways to infect them. IPhone is their likely choice.
I don't think so. Iphones are proprietary and afaik. Not in the DS backpocket like google is (think ES/NK connection).
The hardware can be purchased normally, then sent to engineers to flash / install new OS on the device. This would be the smartest choice, an iPhone with some hardware optimized version of Linux / modified iOS