Is the number still serial if it's random?

Why? And why only Macs and not iPhones? Is this currently a major privacy issue?

Likely to prevent gleaning of production amounts from serial numbers.

I wonder if it’s to prevent “Hackintosh” machines from connecting to Apple services? Services such as iCloud and iMessage require the machine to have a valid serial, and given the format of them is well-known it’s easy to make a valid serial.

Its a business issue.

Assuming base 32 and we have 8char initially. That gives us around 32^8 = 1.099e12 of serial numbers. Might be enough for a while.

Still not seen any convincing argument as to why this is a good thing.

Maybe a randomized serial number will allow Apple to sell you a product made in America or Europe without you needing to know the difference. Maybe it also grants Apple greater liberties when negotiating with existing suppliers.

What was the story with Fountain (FC) and Fremont (F) anyway?

https://beetstech.com/blog/decode-meaning-behind-apple-seria...

https://9to5mac.com/2013/01/25/apple-lists-quanta-computer-i...