Thanks to new software which means that users with stolen phones can immediately stop them from working, iPhone thefts have dropped, loads!
The company introduced a ‘killswitch’ to its phones in 2013, which means that if it’s stolen, the person who rightfully owns it can stop it from working. In London thefts have dropped by 50%. Which is actually quite a lot if you think about how dodgy it can be. Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, told Reuters: ‘We have made real progress in tackling the smartphone theft epidemic that was affecting many major cities just two years ago.’
Similar thefts dropped by 40% in San Francisco and 25% in New York. However, the news comes on a pretty bad day for Apple and the family and friends of Evgenia Sviridenko, a 24-year-old Russian woman whose death is being investigated after she appeared to get an electric shock from an iPhone.
Evgenia was taking a bath when her iPhone fell in, reports MailOnline. The iPhone in turn, was being charged. Her housemate Yaroslav Dubinina, 23, who found her, told local media: ‘I noticed that she had been gone a while, and when I couldn't raise her I opened the door and saw her floating on the water looking really pale.'
'I saw her phone which was on the charger and at the bottom of the bath, and I unplugged it and pulled her out...Her body was still shaking from the shock.'
Using a phone in the bath isn’t a great idea at all, but Apple licenced products are designed to cut out when they come into contact with water. Police are now investigating, and refuse to say whether the smartphone was a licenced iPhone or not. The case is eerily similar to that of a 16-year-old Russian girl, who died after taking her iPhone into the shower with her. Once again, it’s unknown whether the charger was a licenced Apple charger or not.
Sadly, there’s a lesson to be learned: if you’re going to get a big brand item, it’s probably best to fork out for the real deal…it sucks when these ‘must-have’s cost so much, but the alternative doesn’t bear thinking.
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Picture: Matilda Hill Jenkins
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.