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> oh wait, that's an iphone, nvm my bad you're free to go" is that the idea here?

In Brazil I've heard stories of muggers holding up e.g. a bus and not bothering to get iPhones. This was a while ago, before the trade routes to get stolen phones across the world for disassembly and parts resale were as developed as they are today.

There are more robberies than a mugging. Pick pockets are a real scourge. If you have a reliable way to turn stolen goods into currency, you are incentivized to take that item. Jewelry -> pawn shops for example.

The anti-theft measure here makes it not profitable, or much harder to profit, from taking a phone because you can't resell it or strip the valuable parts. I had a friend get pick pocketed in spain, and the next day the phone was several countries away.

Just because people can get mugged regardless of perceived wealth doesn't mean that we don't try to reduce the risk.

Do you think pickpocketer take your phone out of your pocket, check it then say "oh shit this is iphone 15 with DRM" and put it back to your pocket ?

Pickpocketers will fish anything that is in your pocket and in crowded public transport immediately pass to other partner in crime.

Same with thefts on scooter that rob woman with bags - they don't check if it's prada bag or if has any valuables inside.

Same with thefts that can even break your car window to get some bag that they see is inside but in the end has only groceries.

It's about EV per phone. The more security, the lower the EV. Eventually, it isn't even worth it for informed, career pickpockets to take it. There'll always be pickpockets, but phones are much less of a target because of measures like these.

Any impact isn't going to happen on the individual pickpocket level. It would be by making the industry unprofitable.

Moving stolen electronics for phone components has been a consistent revenue stream for a long time and there's a lot of organization that goes into it. No one is pretending this solves the problem, rather that it creates a negative incentive for targeting phones specifically.

The world of scamming and petty theft is vast. I've known some real slick thieves, and they are of the opinion that lifting a phone is just not worth it these days. However, this deterrent is obviously going to be effective on a spectrum. If someone is trying to sell you stolen goods, are you going to buy a new iphone from them on the off chance you can get parts out of it?

I was under the impression that a typical theft is more of a grab-and-run. At least all the thefts I’ve witnessed have been that way. So picture not a back alley mugging from the movies but tourists in a crowded area or commuters on public transit, already holding their phones out in front of them.

It sounds like you are visualizing the typical robbery as a thief stops you in some location secluded enough that they have time to get you to remove all your valuables and hand them over.

It actually is typically a grab and run in a crowd.

We know making smartphones harder to flip deters this because in 2015 when it become mandatory for smartphones to require a remote kill switch the owner could use to kill a stolen phone the theft rate for such phones dropped significantly.

https://www.imore.com/iphone-theft-drops-40-san-francisco-25...

> You're already being mugged, everything that's even remotely valuable will be taken. Why

That's your mistake right there, the challenge to steal isn't identical for different things, and also depends on the things.

For examle, there are plenty of cases where the thiefs snatch the phone from your hand (even while you're still talking), so making resale value low helps here

> you're carrying an expensive af iphone, chances are you can afford

That's the second easy mistake - the "chances" can be low, so the fact that you hypotheticall can afford doesn't help the actual criminal much (if you're jogging with a phone chances that you carry much valuable besides the phone is very low).

> You're already being mugged

A lot of phone thefts are quick pickpocketing/snatch-and-run, or snatch-off-a table, not some Hollywood "stick-em-up, give me everything you have" type of situation.

People target expensive phones, period.. but having fewer ways to turn those stolen phones into enough money to justify the risk means people will be less inclined to directly target them (especially when other brands' expensive flagship phones may be easier).

Similar concept in general physical security/theft deterrent, really.. put up a bigger challenge than others in your vicinity and you're less likely to be targeted.

No, people just walk by and take it off your table. What are you gonna do?

Thieves used to return blackberries

It makes no sense at all and is clearly just an excuse.

Criminals do not want your iPhone. It is an instant tracking device that even if they sold it in an hour would still lead the cops to where they sold it.

I was robbed at gunpoint in the late 2000s and even then the criminals did not want the phone. They did want everything else tho.

It’s anti consumer bullshit and absolutely nothing else.