Apple will switch to randomized serial numbers in early 2021
Apple will soon be changing the way serial numbers of Macs and MacBooks are created, with a switch to randomized numbers in early 2021 making it harder to suss out details about a device.
Currently, the serial number of Apple products use a format that can provide more information about the device. The existing string can be used to work out when and where a device was produced, as well as configuration codes that reveal the model and storage capacity of the device.
In a change to that structure, Apple will be switching over to a new serial number format that consists of a random alphanumeric string between 8 characters and 14 character in length. The internal AppleCare email seen by MacRumors explains it will be scheduled for introduction in "early 2021," and will initially use serial numbers that are 10 digits in length.
The introduction was originally set to take place in early 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced Apple to delay its implementation by a year. Currently-shipping Apple products will continue using the existing format, but future products will switch to the new version.
The change in format will effectively make it impossible to gleam details of the location of manufacture and the week and year of production, details that can be determined with the current system.
Other unique identifiers, such as the IMEI number of an iPhone, will remain unchanged in their current format.
Currently, the serial number of Apple products use a format that can provide more information about the device. The existing string can be used to work out when and where a device was produced, as well as configuration codes that reveal the model and storage capacity of the device.
In a change to that structure, Apple will be switching over to a new serial number format that consists of a random alphanumeric string between 8 characters and 14 character in length. The internal AppleCare email seen by MacRumors explains it will be scheduled for introduction in "early 2021," and will initially use serial numbers that are 10 digits in length.
The introduction was originally set to take place in early 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced Apple to delay its implementation by a year. Currently-shipping Apple products will continue using the existing format, but future products will switch to the new version.
The change in format will effectively make it impossible to gleam details of the location of manufacture and the week and year of production, details that can be determined with the current system.
Other unique identifiers, such as the IMEI number of an iPhone, will remain unchanged in their current format.
Comments
Seems like it’ll make it harder to do serial number checks for repairs, trade-ins or recalls.
I wouldn't think so. The serial numbers are kept in a database and they make you enter the s/n anyway.
As to being able to look up details of a machine by S/N, if that aspect goes away, what replaces it? Meaning, how would one quickly determine details of their machine in a similarly easy manner via a third party like EveryMac?
https://everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/
The rationale is right there in the article:
I'm thinking that if someone figured out the algorithm for generating serial numbers this way, they could build knock-off Macs which appear legit from the serial number, create new serial numbers for stolen Macs, etc. Randomize the serial numbers and it becomes much harder to do that.
A potential problem with the current serial number schema is that counterfeiters can manufacture serial numbers that match Apple's serial number schema for their counterfeit products. Even though the full "fake" serial number is invalid, the schema parts of the full serial number still fit Apple's schema. This invalid but schema conformant serial number could be interpreted by someone as a cursory level of validation when trying to quickly determine whether a product is fake. Even though it is still a weak level of validation, someone under time pressure or faced with a big load of products to validate may decide the cursory validation check is "good enough" and not dig any deeper. Digging deeper would require an explicit check of the serial number against Apple's database.
If every serial number is opaque and does not carry any implicit schema information at all every serial number validation check will have to be checked against Apple's database. This removes a potential shortcut that someone validating serial numbers may have been able to exploit in the past. Of course there are plenty of other shortcuts that people trying to validate an Apple product for authenticity can still use, like "it kind of looks like a real iPhone." Can't plug every hole.
From a legitimate customer/legitimate product perspective this means that every product recall that only affects a certain batch of products, say by manufactured date or manufactured location, will have to be individually and explicitly checked against Apple's database. Apple won't be able to issue any statements to the effect that only a range of serial numbers, manufacturing window, etc., are affected by a service bulletin or recall. This may be less of an issue for end users because Apple tends to make you submit the serial number, but I imagine some Apple support people may have been aware of the serial number schema to quickly determine whether specific products presented for service or replacement were actually affected by the recall.
The same could apply to any component in any Apple product. I don't know this was Apple's either primary or motivation or even a consideration. But this seems as though it could be a benefit Apple without being a material detriment to customers, wether by design or coincidence. I wish somebody at Apple would explain the why of this move.
You can’t check for a range of serial numbers with premature battery failures, etc. anymore: it obscures patterns in hardware problems for anyone but Apple which will hardly voluntarily share them 😡🤬