100 thousand iPhones were stolen from Apple, and now the company is also accused of destroying working devices

Almost 100 thousand iPhones were stolen from Apple, which were supposed to be destroyed, and the company is accused of giving away working smartphones for destruction. This was reported by 9to5Mac.

The 99,725 iPhones that were stolen from the company a few years ago were transferred to China, where they were later resold on the used equipment markets.

Apple reportedly has a contract with GEEP to destroy the equipment where the theft occurred. In 2020, the company sued GEEP, but dropped the lawsuit due to the risks of publicly admitting that the destroyed iPhones were still fully functional, as it would have a bad impact on the company’s claims of caring for the environment.

In 2020, when the lawsuit was filed, Apple had just announced its intention to achieve 100% carbon neutrality over the life cycle of its products by 2030. At the same time, the company noted that the reuse of devices is a primary choice.

In total, the company sent more than 250,000 devices for destruction annually. In the first two years of the contract, GEEP received more than 530,000 iPhones, 25,000 iPads, and 19,000 Apple Watches.

Now, the company is accused of destroying these devices in contradiction to its environmental claims and as a way to prevent the resale of cheaper used devices, which could have hindered the sale of new ones.