According to the Asharq Alawsat newswire, the iPhone and Galaxy tab have been singled out for a ban owing to their ability to be used for security-related violations.
The newswire says that government experts have confirmed that the two devices pose threats to personal privacy and to security establishments’ confidentiality.
The Saudi Gazette, meanwhile, notes that Saudi Arabia is not the first country to ban the devices in security establishments as the US and some European countries have already imposed bans on smartphones, as well as flash-memory drives.
Infosecurity notes that this is not the first time that Saudi Arabia has become upset at the security risks associated with smartphone usage.
As reported last year, the Kingdom announced plans to ban the BlackBerry smartphone family from usage on the Saudi networks, a move that sent Research in Motion (RIM) - the developers of the BlackBerry - scrambling for talks and workarounds.
In the event, the ban was postponed after RIM announced that all BlackBerry data will be channelled through the servers set up for each of the three local mobile operators before reaching RIM's servers in Canada.
The regulator then allowed BlackBerry services to continue on the basis that its servers could then gain access to BlackBerry data and communications.