Apple's iPhones most likely to get stolen according to UK's 'Mobile Phone Theft Ratio'
Rather unsurprisingly, the latest models of Apple’s iPhone are the mobile phones most likely to be targeted by thieves in England and Wales, according to a new report published by the U.K. government’s Home Office.
As noted by BBC (via iMore), the report includes a so-called “Mobile Phone Theft Ratio” that lists the iPhone 5, 5c, 5s and 4S as the top four phones most prone to theft, followed by the BlackBerry 9790 and the Samsung Galaxy S4 and S3.
The index is based on crime data between August 2012 and January 2014, specifically the data provided by the Metropolitan Police in London, where nearly 100,000 cases of mobile phone theft were reported during 2013 alone. The report mentions that between the period under consideration, more than half of all phones stolen in London were iPhones.
The report also notes that an improvement in the levels of mobile phone theft was evident toward the end of the period. This is attributed to the introduction by manufacturers of security measures in their smartphones, including Apple’s Activation Lock feature in iOS 7.
Indeed, as reported by the New York Times last June, Apple’s “kill switch” feature had contributed to the reduction of smartphone thefts in London as well as in New York and San Francisco.
Click here to view the entirety of Home Office’s report, which also notes that mobile phone thefts are likely to occur through pickpocketing and that 14- to 24-year-olds and women are particularly vulnerable to having their phones stolen.
