Apple Stores Reportedly Rolling Out New Anti-Theft System for iPhones

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today reported that Apple is facing a growing problem where some people will buy iPhones or other products and either remove accessories from the box, open up the device and remove components, and/or remove the entire device, and then attempt to return the box hoping that the employee will not notice.

When a customer seeks to return an iPhone, he said that Apple's retail employees have ordinarily been instructed to open the box and verify the contents, but Apple has since come up with a solution that will cut down on wasted inventory.

In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said Apple has provided retail employees with a device that can "scan an in-box iPhone and run diagnostics on it to make sure the phone is fully intact, leaving the box sealed and able to be put back into inventory." Apple began rolling out this feature on the device earlier this month, he said.

These are the same devices that Apple's retail employees have been using to install iOS updates on iPhones without taking them out of the box. More recently, the devices can add a personalized greeting to the iPhone Duo's setup screen.