Apple is advising its authorized premium resellers and dealers to prepare for new products with 10 and 12 digital serial numbers, days ahead of when it's expected to reveal a slew of new products.
MacRumors previously reported that Apple plans to switch to randomized serial numbers for future products starting in early 2021. The company now seems to be preparing for that roll-out, telling authorized resellers and dealers in a memo obtained by MacRumors to ensure that their "systems, warehouses, and processes are in place and able to receive and ship the two serial number formats."
The reminder from Apple to its authorized partners comes less than a week from when the company will hold its "Spring Loaded" event on Tuesday, April 20. That event is expected to headline the launch of new iPad Pros with mini-LED displays and possibly the company's AirTags tracker's long-awaited release.
I'd think there is probably some scam going on where people somehow scam Apple by providing serial numbers for devices that they don't own. With this change, it should be impossible to figure out the serial number of an existing device unless you have that device in your hands. So a repair shop cannot charge Apple for replacing a motherboard under warranty for a device that was never in the repair shop.
I'd think there is probably some scam going on where people somehow scam Apple by providing serial numbers for devices that they don't own. With this change, it should be impossible to figure out the serial number of an existing device unless you have that device in your hands. So a repair shop cannot charge Apple for replacing a motherboard under warranty for a device that was never in the repair shop.
I can see two immediate benefits (to Apple at least)
1) counterfeit products being sold with genuine serial numbers - when the end user looks up the serial number everything checks out. Think Facebook marketplace “AirPods”.
2) iMessage and FaceTime are tied to serial numbers. It’s quite common in the hackintosh scene to generate a serial number that will allow it to work.
Well that sucks for IT Support and Infosec. I often need details about a Mac and providing the Serial Number at EveryMac helps: https://everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/
Thursday March 17, 2022 4:56 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Reliable display analyst Ross Young has reiterated his belief that Apple will unveil a new product with a 27-inch mini-LED display around June, despite another well-known analyst claiming new mini-LED products from Apple are unlikely this year.
On Wednesday, Ming-Chi Kuo said there may be no new products with mini-LED displays from Apple in 2022 because of cost concerns to do with sourcing...
Wednesday January 5, 2022 11:18 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple's first major product announcements of the year often occur in March or April, so there's a reasonable chance that trend will continue in 2022. Ahead, we recap some of Apple's past spring announcements and look ahead to some of the first new Apple products that we might see this year.
Past Spring Announcements
Last year, Apple held an event on April 20 to unveil its AirTag item...
Monday February 14, 2022 1:20 am PST by Sami Fathi
Apple has filed three new unreleased Mac computers in the Eurasian Economic Database ahead of when the company is expected to hold a rumored Spring event on or around March 8, as first spotted by Consomac. The three new Macs, listed with model numbers A2615, A2686, and A2681, are all listed as running macOS Monterey, but no other details including the specific model of the computers are...
Monday January 31, 2022 10:25 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple's rumored iMac Pro will launch in the summer rather than in the early months of the year, according to display analyst Ross Young.
Young, who often provides accurate insight into Apple's display plans, said that he no longer expects the iMac Pro to launch in the spring, and that a "summer" launch seems more likely at this point. Panel shipments are expected to begin in June, and a...
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, March 8, under the tagline "Peek Performance," where it is expected to announce a new iPhone SE, iPad Air, and at least one new Mac.
Apple is thought to have a busy year of product announcements in store for 2022, including multiple new Macs, at least three new Apple Watches, new iPhones, and more. Next week's event is the...
Update: We now have invites for a March 8 event! Apple uncharacteristically sent them out less than a week ahead of the event. With no sign of Apple event invites being sent out for the company's rumored spring event on March 8, when could Apple's long-awaited spring event be?
Apple CEO Tim Cook speaking at the company's September 2020 Special Event What Happened to the Rumored March 8 ...
Wednesday March 16, 2022 8:00 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple is unlikely to launch any products with new mini-LED display sizes in 2022 due to cost concerns, reputable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in a tweet today. When asked for further details by email, Kuo clarified that only Apple's existing mini-LED products like the 12.9-inch iPad Pro may be updated in 2022, with no additional products to transition to mini-LEDs this year. For example, Kuo...
Thursday February 3, 2022 7:21 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple is rolling out new product pages for the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro that provide a simplified overview of each device's key features.
The new product pages went live in late January and as of today are prominently linked to from the top menu bar on the iPhone page of Apple's website in the United States, Australia, Germany, United Kingdom, and several other countries. Due to browser...
With the fifth beta of iOS 16, Apple has updated the battery icon on iPhones with Face ID to display the specific battery percentage rather than just a visual representation of battery level. The new battery indicator is available on iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 models, with the exception of the 5.4-inch iPhone 12/13 mini. It is also available on the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max, XS and XS Max, and...
The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models are rumored to be available in a refreshed range of color options, including an all-new purple color. Most expectations about the iPhone 14 lineup's color options come from an unverified post on Chinese social media site Weibo earlier this year.
Overall, the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro's selection of color options could look fairly similar to those of the ...
Apple this week brought back one of the most highly requested features from iOS users since the launch of the iPhone X in 2017: the ability to see your battery percentage directly in the status bar.
Ever since the launch of the iPhone X with the notch, Apple has not allowed users to show their battery percentage directly in the status bar, forcing them to swipe down into Control Center to...
Apple today seeded the fifth beta of iOS 16 to developers for testing purposes, introducing some small but notable changes to the iOS operating system.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up everything new in the fifth beta below.
Battery Percentage in Status Bar
The battery icon in the status bar now displays the exact battery percent, a feature that ...
The camera bump on the upcoming iPhone 14 Pro Max is expected to be the largest rear lens housing Apple has ever installed on its flagship smartphones, and a new photo offers a rare glimpse at just how prominent it is compared to Apple's predecessor device.
iPhone 14 Pro Max dummy (left) vs iPhone 13 Pro Max All iPhone 14 models are expected to see upgrades to the Ultra Wide camera on the...
Apple has "started to record" its virtual September event, where it's expected to announce the upcoming iPhone 14 lineup, the Apple Watch Series 8, and a new "rugged" Apple Watch model, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says the event, which is expected to take place in the early part of September, is already under production, implying...
While the iPhone 14 and Apple Watch Series 8 are expected to be announced in September as usual, there are several more Apple products rumored to launch later this year, including new iPad and Mac models and more.
Beyond the iPhone and Apple Watch, we've put together a list of five Apple products that are most likely to be unveiled by the end of 2022.
Second-Generation AirPods Pro
Apple...
Top Rated Comments
They cannot really call it a "serial" number now, though.
1) counterfeit products being sold with genuine serial numbers - when the end user looks up the serial number everything checks out. Think Facebook marketplace “AirPods”.
2) iMessage and FaceTime are tied to serial numbers. It’s quite common in the hackintosh scene to generate a serial number that will allow it to work.
https://everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/