Developer-Dude
My country, Singapore, is pretty authoritarian and pretty advanced. I read from one of our history books that many of China's nanny state/surveillance frameworks were based on Singapore's, when our leaders conferred regularly in the 1900s, when China was still developing. I won't go into detail as it's too political.
Singapore could probably ban a specific phone brand if it wanted to. It's an island in the middle of several developing countries in Southeast Asia. No one in their right mind would smuggle phones here; for one, there's barely anyone to sell it to. It's also known for its strict laws and punishments. Let's be honest, even if it wasn't banned here, there is a chance that the manufacturer wouldn't ship it to such a tiny country. The population is high for its area, but a lot of people just don't care about privacy.
The only real way is by plane or by car (on a tiny bridge). The only land that connects Singapore to any other area is a tiny bridge from Malaysia. And if they're not importing it to Singapore I doubt they'd import it there. People don't care that much about privacy even in the US. and even less so here, so the government won't face much backlash and no one would smuggle stuff here anyway. Just the complaints online, no real action. I know it will happen eventually.
Oh and I forgot, in Singapore, protests need government permission to be held and only 5/6 people will show up. They might get arrested too. We have 4.2 million residents by the way, only 5 give enough f*cks to show up
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_demonstrations_in_Singapore#2008