As first reported by Macrumors, the company’s new iPhone 12 in purple, which was released this month, is now sold with a random 10-character serial code, which is less than the usual 12-character code sold with iPhones.
Apple confirmed earlier in the year that it would transition to randomized serial numbers, and it now appears as though the first iPhones have been released with them. The chances are that the new iPhone 12 mini in purple also sports these randomized serial codes, though AirTag continues the 12-character serial number tradition.
When Apple launches its next hardware, the new iMac, iPad Pro, and Apple TV, later this month, we’ll be able to see whether the rest of the line-up has been transitioned over to these new random serial number combinations.
Earlier in the year, it was revealed that Apple would move away from its current serial numbers, which determine the date and location of manufacturing. The first three numbers represent the location of the manufacturing plant, the next two indicated the year and week of manufacture and the final characters revealed the model, color, and storage capacity of the device. For enhanced security, Apple’s new randomized alphanumeric codes will be used.
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