London Metropolitan Police report a dramatic reduction in smartphone thefts in the past year after establishing a close partnership with tech giant Apple, which devised a way of rendering the stolen devices unsellable.
Apple rigorously analysed the real-world effectiveness of its anti-theft systems such as Activation Lock and Stolen Device Protection and shared these insights directly with the London police force.
The shared objective was to ensure that once a smartphone is stolen it cannot be factory reset for resale, effectively rendering the black-market value of the device completely worthless.
