Apple Is Switching to Randomized Serial Numbers. Here's Why...

Apple is going to be switching to all-new randomized serial numbers for future products while any currently shipping hardware will continue to use the current serial number format.

8–14 Characters

MacRumors has seen an email from Apple to its AppleCare staff confirming that randomized product serial numbers are going to be introduced at some point in early 2021. According to the company, this change will apply to new products. Any currently-shipping products shall continue to use the current serial number format.

The new serial number is formatted as a random alphanumeric string of 8-14 characters. The company has confirmed that IMEI numbers won't be affected by this change.

Many people are unsure as to why the company is making this change.

Knowing how these serial numbers work, one reason for this change could be privacy---the current serial number format embeds manufacturing information or configuration details.

Privacy-Preserving Serial Numbers

Deciphering the serial number for your particular Apple product may enable bad actors to view important details like the warrant status or discover information such as a device's year and age. Malicious users could then take advantage of those tidbits of information for social engineering before attempting to break into your Apple ID account.

According to MacRumors:

Apple's current serial number format has long allowed both customers and service providers to determine the date and location that a product was manufactured, with the first three characters representing the manufacturing location and the following two indicating the year and week of manufacture.

Under this scheme, the last four characters currently serve as a configuration code that reveals information like the precise model, color, and storage capacity of a device.

MUO thinks it's safe to deem this yet another privacy-preserving move from Apple.

The move could even help stop unwarranted complaints from people who know how to interpret those serial numbers, thinking that their iPhone is suffering from a certain issue because it was manufactured on some specific week.