Apple looking to control every part in your iPhone

As part of Apple’s new iOS 18, it appears that they are beta testing a feature called “Activation Lock.” The feature, as previously described by Apple, links your Apple Account not only to your iPhone, but also to components such as the battery, cameras and display based on their individual serial numbers.

The goal is to put an end to the market for selling parts from stolen iPhones. With Activation Lock, when the iPhone detects a used part, it will ask for the Apple Account password of the owner of the original device.

Here’s how Apple described the change in April:

Apple will also extend its popular Activation Lock feature to iPhone parts in order to deter stolen iPhones from being disassembled for parts. Requested by customers and law enforcement officials, the feature was designed to limit iPhone theft by blocking a lost or stolen iPhone from being reactivated. If a device under repair detects that a supported part was obtained from another device with Activation Lock or Lost Mode enabled, calibration capabilities for that part will be restricted.