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That's interesting, if anything I would have expected the opposite. With how tight Apple restrictions and DRM are (e.g. there's DRM on the screen and the phone
by sofixa 3y ago
That's interesting, if anything I would have expected the opposite. With how tight Apple restrictions and DRM are (e.g. there's DRM on the screen and the phone will not work if you put in a non-approved one), what exactly is the market for stolen iPhones? Paperweights? Or the small non-DRM-able parts like... the case? maybe battery? buttons?
- neilalexander 3y agoParts for sure.
- dijit 3y agoWhich part of an iPhone has any resale value? If the device is icloud locked the most interesting component is bricked. The screen is locked to that part too, so will never work right in another phone. All you would get is a battery (with no good way to install it, and as a consumable component); a chassis and a lightening/USB port.
- that_guy_iain 3y agoAll the parts have resell value. Lots of repair shops buy second hand parts from unauthorized dealers since they're cheaper.
- dijit 3y agobut thats what I mean, which parts are actually useful. There is very little usable inside an iPhone if the mainboard is bricked. As a former criminal I wouldn't bother, its grand theft for something I cant sell for even $10
- that_guy_iain 3y agoNearly all of them as far as I understand. You disconnect it from the original iPhone mainboard and put it on a new iPhone mainboard. > As a former criminal I wouldn't bother, its grand theft for something I cant sell for even $10 As a former criminal, if you couldn't sell a stolen iPhone for $10 you have shit connections and should get out of the robbery business and do other crimes instead.
- dijit 3y agoPlease explain what parts have use without a mainboard and their relative worth. - We know for certain batteries (that are consumable anyway) do not go easily in, and screens are pretty close to being unviable too. People keep claiming that iPhone parts are fungible in the context of repairs but I have been following iPhone repairs for a good chunk of the last decade and things are not looking great for aftermarket anything. Watching StrangeParts on youtube conducting various iPhone mods has also given me the distinct impression that there really is not much value of anything in the second hand market here. If there is no market value for parts then it follows that the black market (which already pays cents on the dollar) will not be paying anything at all. EDIT: for more of what I mean: https://youtu.be/hmQHgWNAg24?t=353 https://youtu.be/hmQHgWNAg24?t=353 "This phone won't accept salvaged parts".
- that_guy_iain 3y agoWhere do you think all the parts that get used for iPhone repairs come from? The ones Apple spends so much time having seized at customs. You break your screen on your iPhone, a cheap repair is 150 or so, right? The screen probably cost the repairer about 50. The camera breaks, another 50. Lighting port breaks. The speaker breaks. Realistically the average stolen iPhone will be bought by someone at 10-50 bucks depending on various things. Then sold on depending on if it got bricked or not. Not bricked it goes to other countries to be used as an iPhone with a resell value of a few hundred bucks. Bricked, it then goes to another country and broken down to parts and resold by companies who sell parts in bulk.
- theshrike79 3y agoThere are people literally on the streets in China selling parts. I've watched my share of Strange Parts videos =) But both can't be true: 1) Apple is evil for locking components so they can't be swapped 2) Every 2-bit criminal knows A Guy who can re-use any part of a stolen iPhone without issues
- that_guy_iain 3y ago
- taneliv 3y agoIn some parts of the world, it so happens that the robbers know how to operate Apple phones. They then use this skill to force the owner of the phone to unlock it and further find the banking apps or similar to get more money from the victim. If you don't know how Android works, you risk the owner signaling an emergency while trying to do the same. Don't know if this is happening in the US, where this crime apparently took place.
- snehk 3y ago> They then use this skill to force the owner of the phone to unlock it and further find the banking apps or similar to get more money from the victim. Can you explain this part? Why would any owner cooperate with the criminals in this case?
- taylodl 3y agoNote to self: remove banking app from phone. This is another reason why unlocking the phone with your face is a bad idea. Apple could have setup two unlock codes: one for normal use and one that silently calls the police and starts recording. All without the robbers knowing.
- oldpersonintx 3y ago[dead]
- peoplefromibiza 3y agoThis is so unbelievable on so many levels that it reeks of marketing. iPhone sales are declining. I would expect a thief to make the best out of any stolen goods, not to return it, even more so after directly approaching the victims on the streets with guns in hands, which should already be a crime bad enough that stealing a phone should almost not matter. Anyway the most important bit of information for me as an European is that nobody is terrified that in the US it is consider normal to be robbed by armed men like that.
- scawf 3y agoI had an iPhone returned to me because of a broken... screen protector. Thieves are not always very smart.