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/
Aside from the M1 chip, Apple's 12.9-inch 2021 iPad Pro models have one other standout feature - the new mini-LED display. It's the best ever display used in an iPad, and there's such a stark difference between the mini-LED display and the display of the 2020 iPad Pro that we had to show it off.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The iPad Pro's mini-LED display, which ...
Apple will soon ship out 11 and 12.9-inch M1 iPad Pro models, according to multiple Twitter users and MacRumors readers who have seen their orders shift to "Preparing to Ship" status.
So far, we haven't seen any shipment notifications, but that's the next step and is likely to happen in the near future. Apple has not provided an exact delivery date to those who ordered a new M1 iPad Pro, but ...
Thursday March 18, 2021 8:41 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
It's been a whirlwind of a month for Apple rumors. First, we heard from leaker Jon Prosser that an Apple Event was planned for March 16, but that was ruled out by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Once that date passed, Prosser and other leakers then suggested there would be an Apple Event on March 23, which is seemingly not happening either.
With attention now shifting to April, we've put together...
Ahead of their expected launch on May 21, some brand new M1 iPad Pro orders have begun switching to a "Shipped" status.
Multiple readers of MacRumors have shared with us their updated order for their brand new iPads which now shows a "Shipped" status, rather than "Preparing to ship." Interestingly, despite the new iPad Pros now shipping for a few customers, reviews and hands-on of the newest ...
Days ahead of their expected launch and seemingly before official review embargoes lift, one lucky customer has already gotten their hands on the brand new 12.9-inch M1 iPad Pro.
Reddit User PeterDragon50 Posted on Reddit, u/PeterDragon50 has already received their 12.9-inch iPad Pro through retailer Nebraska Furniture Mart. The Reddit user says they placed their order when pre-orders...
Apple will soon be making a significant change to its serial number format for future products that will see some key information stripped out.
In an internal AppleCare email this week, obtained by MacRumors, Apple said the new serial number format will consist of a randomized alphanumeric string of 8-14 characters that will no longer include manufacturing information or a configuration...
Siri has apparently prematurely revealed that Apple plans to hold an event on Tuesday, April 20, where the company is expected to reveal brand new iPad Pro models and possibly its long-awaited AirTags trackers.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Upon being asked "When is the next Apple Event," Siri is currently responding with, "The special event is on Tuesday, April...
Some users are noticing more blooming on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro's Liquid Retina XDR mini-LED display than expected, despite Apple's claims that the effect is minimized.
According to recently published Apple Support documents, the iPad Pro's Liquid Retina XDR display is designed to improve on "the trade-offs of typical local dimming systems, where the extreme brightness of LEDs might cause a...
Following an overnight leak by Siri, Apple today officially announced that it will be holding a special "Spring Loaded" event on Tuesday, April 20 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time at the Steve Jobs Theater on the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California.
As with all of Apple's 2020 events, the April 2021 event will be a digital-only gathering with no members of the media invited to attend in...
MacRumors previously reported about Apple's plan to switch to randomized serial numbers for future products starting in early 2021, and this transition has now started with the new purple iPhone 12 model in multiple countries.
With assistance from Aaron Zollo, host of the YouTube channel ZolloTech, we can confirm that the purple iPhone 12 released last month has a new 10-character serial...
Updates for Safari, FaceTime, and many other apps, Universal Control to let a single mouse or trackpad control multiple devices, new Shortcuts app, machine-learning Live Text detection and Visual Lookup, and more.
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/