The first three characters of an Apple serial number identify the country or location of manufacture. Deconstructing Apple Serial Numbersįor years, Apple’s serial numbers have followed such a standardized format that multiple websites have popped up to help users decipher them to figure out information about their devices, such as when and where they were manufactured. However, this only appears to be affecting new products that Apple hasn’t yet released to avoid confusion, all currently shipping Apple products, even new ones yet to be manufactured, will continue using the current serial number format.Īlso, although it will affect the actual serial numbers used for iPhones and cellular-capable iPads and Apple Watches, IMEI numbers will not be impacted, as these still have to follow an international standard, and Apple technically only controls six of the digits within an IMEI anyway. However, in an internal AppleCare memo seen by MacRumors, Apple has told its employees and partners that it will be using a new serial number format, consisting of a randomized alphanumeric string of 8–14 characters, no part of which will include any manufacturing or configuration information.Īccording to the email, the transition is scheduled to begin in “early 2021” - in other words, very soon. To be fair, none of this is highly personal information, but there’s also a case to be made that it shouldn’t be so readily available simply from deconstructing the number itself, especially now that Apple provides readily accessible databases that Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers can use to validate serial numbers and look up these details.
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