It may have nothing to do with looking at forbidden things. In E”Y there has for many years been a clear psak, signed by gedolim of every stripe, litvish, chasidish and sefardi that having a non-kosher phone is forbidden.
I don’t know the halachic parameters here, but I would think that the fact that the erstwhile eid felt he doesn’t have to listen to practically all the gedolim was a factor.