Also, theft is not a problem that you can solve with software. People will always steal iPhones because there will always be at least some value to the components inside. I guarantee you that iCloud locking was not even a factor in the decision Apple made to implement this bullshit into iOS:
if (camera.serialNumber != mainboard.camera.serialNumber) {
freakTheFuckOutForNoReason()
}
The only factor in this decision was most likely Apple's relentless, unending quest to acquire as many US dollars as possible, despite already having ~200 billion of them reserved [1].[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/27/apple-q1-cash-hoard-heres-ho...
They sell hundreds of millions of devices each year. A problem I haven’t seen discussed much — could Apple’s suppliers actually deliver enough parts for new phones and spare parts?
Tesla supposedly has the same problem with spare parts being unavailable, as everything goes into new products.
Since they already sell hundreds of millions of devices a year, I'd say yes.
Do you think that if demand for whole devices increased worldwide, Apple wouldn't be able to fulfill it?
They aren’t able, as the current situation is living proof from that. Note the ongoing chip/semiconductor crisis.
And what about pandemic, because of it, supply chains were surprised with the demand of elecronics. So, they could not respond for the demand. And Apple would have had a limit anyway for chip manufacturing based on this.
I agree that most people will not steal. That's been my experience of growing up in a country with rampant poverty and inequality (and crime).
That said, the more people are in need, the more incentive for them to look for solutions outside of a system that has inherently failed them and the people they know.
I have myself been robbed and assaulted multiple times. I have had relatives kidnapped. Cars stolen leaving or entering their own garage, sometimes in nice areas of the city. I have been myself held at gunpoint by both criminals and police. The house I grew up in has been burglarised multiple times. I have not once, and don't know a single person who has been assaulted or robbed by a middle or upper class person.
There is probably also some correlation between white collar crime and corruption, and poverty, but I suspect the direction of causality goes the other way around in this case.
Source?
http://www.ijsk.org/uploads/3/1/1/7/3117743/sociology_2.pdf
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z87w97h/revision/2
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJSE-04-...
https://journalofeconomicstructures.springeropen.com/article...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_correlations_of_cr...
https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/full-links-...
https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2018/dec/7/brookings-in...
http://www.ecineq.org/ecineq_paris19/papers_EcineqPSE/paper_...
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/06/07/the-star...
Apple's devices are quite expensive. iCloud locking have made them worth less in the black-market, but the components are still worth something. This will make Apple's devices worth next to nothing in the black market and as a consequence less of a risk of being a target of petty theft.