Cellebrite has announced its intention to acquire Corellium, a pioneer in ARM-based virtualization technology, in a $170 million deal set to reshape the digital forensics and mobile security testing landscape.
The acquisition, expected to close this summer pending regulatory approval, will integrate Corellium’s virtualized device emulation into Cellebrite’s suite of tools used by law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and corporate investigators worldwide.
The transaction was revealed on June 5, 2025, in a joint announcement by Cellebrite and Corellium. Under the agreement, Cellebrite will pay $170 million in cash, with $20 million of that converted into equity at closing. An additional $30 million may be paid out based on performance milestones over the next two years. Chris Wade, Corellium’s co-founder and a prominent figure in the security world, will assume the role of Chief Technology Officer at Cellebrite.
Corellium, co-founded by Wade and former Azimuth researcher David Wang, is best known for its virtualization platform that can emulate iOS, Android, and other ARM-based devices. Its technology enables researchers to identify software vulnerabilities, malware, and potential attack paths in a fully virtualized, forensically sound environment. This method allows full system interaction without modifying the original hardware, an advantage particularly valued in sensitive legal or intelligence investigations.
Cellebrite, headquartered in Petah Tikva, Israel, is a publicly traded firm (NASDAQ: CLBT) that provides digital investigation and lawful access tools to government and private-sector clients. The company’s products are frequently used in criminal investigations to extract and analyze data from encrypted mobile devices, including high-profile cases involving suspects' locked phones.
In February 2025, Amnesty International exposed Serbia’s use of a Cellebrite zero-day exploit to hack a student activist’s Android phone during protests. The attack, tied to Cellebrite’s UFED tools, bypassed device security via unpatched USB driver flaws — highlighting how digital forensics tech can be weaponized for political repression despite vendor restrictions.
The pairing of the two companies has deep implications for both public safety and privacy policy. Cellebrite’s reputation for supporting government agencies in bypassing mobile encryption now gains a powerful technological edge from Corellium’s ability to simulate entire mobile ecosystems for testing and analysis.
Chris Wade’s return to the spotlight is also significant. Pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2020 for undisclosed charges reportedly related to early spam botnets, Wade has since been a central figure in mobile security research. His co-founder, David Wang, was reportedly involved in helping the FBI access the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters in 2015, a controversial case that pitted Apple against the U.S. Department of Justice over encryption backdoors. While Wang departed Corellium in 2021, the company remained in the legal spotlight during a four-year copyright battle with Apple, which concluded in a confidential 2023 settlement.
Corellium currently serves over 500 organizations across the globe, including security researchers, developers, and government entities. Its emulation technology supports not only smartphone platforms but also automotive systems and IoT environments, an increasingly critical domain as ARM-based chips proliferate from mobile devices to edge computing.
The acquisition marks a concerning convergence of two firms long associated with circumventing device protections. Corellium’s virtualization tools, once a staple of independent security research, will now directly support Cellebrite’s work with law enforcement to access locked iPhones and Android devices. This consolidation shifts a powerful research platform squarely into institutional control, potentially narrowing access for public-interest auditing while expanding capabilities for targeted surveillance.
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