Apple is rolling out a new anti-theft device to its retail stores that scans a returned iPhone and runs diagnostics on it without opening the box. It is built to counter theft and stop stores from wasting sellable inventory.
Mark Gurman reports in his latest Power On newsletter that the scanners started arriving at Apple Stores earlier this month and are now becoming operational. They are built for the iPhone.
Return fraud is the theft Apple is trying to shut down
Some people buy iPhones or other products, take the accessories out of the box, strip components from the device or remove the phone itself, and then return the package. They sometimes do it in large quantities and build a business out of reselling the parts on the aftermarket.
To counter that, store employees are instructed to open the packaging on returned iPhones and other products and check that everything is in proper shape, even when the box looks sealed. In the vast majority of cases the customer is making a good-faith return and nothing is wrong, which means staff open a lot of honest returns to catch a small number of bad ones.
Sealed boxes can now go straight back into inventory
Opening every box has a cost, because a worker who breaks the seal takes the phone out of sellable inventory and has to send it back to the warehouse for processing.
The new device removes that step by scanning an iPhone while it is still in the box and running diagnostics to confirm the phone is fully intact. The box stays sealed, so it can be put back into inventory.
Apple built the scanner on technology from its Presto machines, which let the company update iPhone software before sale without opening the packaging. The new devices apply the same sealed-box approach to returns.
The rollout lands in the middle of the iPhone Duo launch
The iPhone Duo began selling this month, and Apple Stores have been busy with it.
At the store Gurman visited on launch day, about 150 people were in line by 6 in the morning, and some had camped out since the night before. Nearly everyone who arrived before 6:30 was able to buy an iPhone Duo.
