where do these stories come from? did this uber driver get robbed, report it to the police, and feel so offended that his android phone got rejected by the robber that he decided to call up some news station about it? because i'm trying to process the train of thought here between the robbery and alleged rejection and this news story being published. all i can think is that some online news editor believed it would generate a lot of clicks, but i'm still stuck on how some robbery victim who got their phone rejected for being the wrong brand thought it might feel the need to contact a news station about it.
Absolutely wild guess on this one, but if I had to:
The victims probably wanted to get the story out because of their frustration about getting robbed. Maybe they were asked what valuables were taken, so they listed out what items were taken and if there was any motive, and they might've said "they took my phone and tried to take my husband's, but gave his phone back" and were asked why the robbers would give the phone back or asked about what was said.
Also doesn't even make sense since iPhones (honestly most phones now) are so well known to be easily remotely bricked by the owner, that stealing it offers little to no benefits.
I’ve seen cases where the thieves demand you to unlock your phone at gunpoint before leaving, so they can do whatever before you get a chance to remotely brick it.
How? They are all locked to that specific device. Installing a screen or battery from another iPhone will disable features on the iPhone it's installed in. I'm surprised there's still a market for that.