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If you return an unopened iPhone to the Apple Store, the clerk will reportedly soon be able to tell you’re not a thief without making a big show, all thanks to a pretty astonishing new piece of tech.
For years now, if you returned an unopened iPhone to an Apple Store, it’s been store policy to rip open the packaging, often right in front of the customer, and possibly turn it on, before processing a refund. This has caused confusion, with one Redditor posting four years ago, “I thought they weren’t gonna give me the refund after since it was opened.”
But most people understand the deal: Apple has reason to believe customers might be scammers. For all the company knows, you might be taking out components—or the entire iPhone—and then resealing the package and getting your money back.
But having a store clerk open the box you were so careful to keep sealed feels a little like an unspoken accusation, and the practice also came with a downside for Apple: the need to send the iPhone back to the mothership to have it inspected and resealed, instead of just restocking it right there in the store.
But that will all soon be over, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Gurman’s anonymous sources say Apple’s Presto System—retail tech designed to update and customize your gadget while it’s sealed in its box—has given way to a related new piece of security tech.
These new devices, which arrived at Apple Stores in October and “are now becoming operational,” according to Gurman, perform diagnostic scans of iPhones inside their boxes, allowing them to be restocked, and allowing the customer to get their refund with less fuss.
If the device works as reported, and doesn’t, for instance, falsely determine that you messed up the device you’re returning, this is welcome news—particularly for the many people who will soon be getting unwanted Apple products as Christmas gifts. On the other hand, it’s a bummer if you are an Apple scammer, but maybe stop doing that?