A few months ago, Apple made drastic changes to its repair policies where it’s now much easier for users to repair their iPhones using genuine parts. Now, the company has come up with a new related feature for stolen iPhones.
Beta testers of iOS 18 found a new feature that puts an Activation Lock on iPhone parts. This means that much like your iPhone’s motherboard, the battery module, cameras, and display will be locked to the original user’s account unless they choose to end ownership of it.
Related
The obvious goal here is to protect iPhones that have been stolen. As you know, lost or stolen iPhones are pretty much useless since their system is locked using the original user’s Apple ID account.
Stolen iPhones usually end up in chop-chop shops, where they will be dismantled and sold for spare parts. But with the new update, even those spare parts will become unusable so no one can profit from the lost/stolen device.