Do you really consider this a question of intelligence?
As I understand it, there are standards e.g. for cosmetics, food and other products that have to be kept before applying the label “vegan”. Take wine as an example. While there is no animal product in the wine you buy and drink, something like gelatine or other animal products can be used to clear the wine.
With a product as complex as a phone, this kind of standard seems hard to come up to like guarenteeing that everyone contributing anything to the phone is being treated fair (e.g. minimum wage etc.).
Just one example:
There is a SoC in the phone, that in itself consists of plastics and metal and other materials.
Therefore it’s not enough to take a look at the supplier of the SoC but you have to take a look at all his suppliers and their suppliers as well for fair treatment of the workers.
And while I am vegetarian only, having a somewhat less strict standard, I really would not label a phone “vegan”, if some parts contain animal products or just use animal products in production. Doing so would of course (and in my opinion rightfully) result in heavy critzism.
No discussion here, that I would love to see a vegan phone happening or just a phone, that is taking cruelty to animals into consideration. It’s just the lable “vegan” I would be careful with.
Edit:
“The vegan society”, as you know it, might not have an issue with the definition. Even if that’s true for the whole vegan society, this will change, when it comes to business. There will for sure be competitors (non vegan) challenging (legally) any claim they perceive as an advantage in advertising.