Anecdotally, in China this has had a massive impact on theft. iPhones used to be stolen regularly - most of the girls I know in China have had their phones stol

Anecdotally, in China this has had a massive impact on theft. iPhones used to be stolen regularly - most of the girls I know in China have had their phones stolen at least once. Now it is much rarer. They are still stolen, mailed to Xinjiang and disassembled, but the profit motive isn't really there. "What this really does is suffocate the secondary parts market" Quit the opposite, second hand parts from disassembled devices is probably even more prolific now (you're prolly getting an artificially lower price b/c of thefts) I think you should be more sympathetic to people that live in situations where this policy has made a huge difference- where the cost of the phone is a large chunk of their income. And where nabbing a phone could net you effectively a month's income. I'm happy for you that you live in a place that has so little theft this isn't a concern for you.