Comment by jrmg

I would say that phone theft is relatively rare. I didn’t mean to single out iPhone really - AFAIK the major manufacturers of Android phones provide similar protection, and if feel the same about them removing it.

To me the surprising claim would be that phone theft is common - I don’t think I know of anyone who’s had their phone stolen - but if you want stats, sticking with the UK, here’s the official statistics on robbery and ‘theft from a person’: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeand...

It’s more work than I have time for now, but I don’t think that any of the headline figures can be regarded as ‘common’.

More emotionally: Maybe it’s just my age showing, but it is notable to me that nowadays we’re all carrying around $1000 items at all times, and muggings aren’t through the roof. Perhaps society is kinder than I gave it credit for, but I think that the lack of utility of those $1000 items if you steal them (so, they’re not really worth $1000 to a mugger) is a major part of the reason they’re not.