Apple started checking returned iPhones without opening the box

According to journalist Mark Gurman, the device allows you to make sure that the smartphone is inside, it has not been disassembled and its parts have not been removed. Deliveries of devices to stores began in early October, and they are now being gradually introduced. Gurman does not reveal how the check is carried out, but according to his data, it is based on the technologies of the Presto system, which Apple uses to update iOS on smartphones that have not yet been removed from their packaging.

The new tool is related to dishonest returns. Gurman describes cases where buyers remove the smartphone, accessories or individual components from the box, and then return the packaging to the store, passing it off as untouched. Because of this, employees had to open even those boxes that looked sealed.

Difficulties also arose with honest returns: the opened device was sent to the warehouse for processing and could not immediately return to the shelf in its original condition. If the diagnosis in the box does not reveal any problems, the packaging will remain sealed, and the iPhone can be sold again.

As previously written, Presto can simultaneously update up to six iPhones in sealed boxes: installing the current version of iOS takes about 15-30 minutes, after which the smartphones turn off.