London thieves return stolen phones when they are not iPhones

"Don’t want no Samsung," a London gang member told Sam, handing back his Android phone after stealing it along with several other possessions.

Sam, 32, was among multiple Android users who shared their experiences with local news site London Centric, describing an emotional rollercoaster after being mugged in the city, only to have their phones returned.

Mark, a Samsung Galaxy owner, was outside his workplace when a thief on an e-bike sped by and snatched his phone. Though Mark tried to chase the thief, he was no match for the speed of the e-bike. He was stunned when the thief abruptly stopped, glanced at the phone, and tossed it onto the road before speeding off. Mark retrieved the phone undamaged but said it bruised his ego: "If anything I feel a bit rejected."

A person holds a phone next to a warning sign of phone theft. Photo from X

In another incident, Simon was walking on Brockley High Street when a young man approached him with a "very friendly demeanor" and asked if he used Spotify. Simon thought little of the encounter, but when he took out his phone to open the app, the man glanced at the device, saw it was a Samsung, and immediately walked away.

It was then that Simon realized what he had initially thought was a friendly exchange was actually a potential mugging, thwarted by his choice of mobile. Simon overheard the thief telling an accomplice in the distance: "Phone’s dead, innit."

London’s Metropolitan Police have been intensifying efforts to address the growing problem of phone theft in the city. Thieves, often masked and on e-bikes, have been snatching phones from residents and tourists alike. A record 80,000 phones were stolen in London last year, earning the city an undesirable reputation as a European hotspot for phone theft, The New York Times reported.

While neither the Metropolitan Police nor the City of London Police maintain official statistics on the split between Android and iPhone thefts, experts and Android users alike have noticed a growing trend.

Jake Moore, a cybersecurity advisor, told London Centric that thieves are more likely to target iPhones due to their higher resale value. Moore explained that the security features of Android and iPhone devices are similar, making it unlikely that thieves target Apple handsets because they are easier to unlock. "Fundamentally, the resale value is what thieves are most interested in," he said.