London Thieves Gave Stolen Phones Back When They Weren’t iPhones
18th November 2025
Similarly, Galaxy owner Mark had his device stolen by a thief riding an e-bike.
Mark says, “I saw him stop, look at my phone, then throw it on the floor. He cycled off and I retrieved my phone.”
Another funny story highlights Simon, who had an unusually friendly stranger (and would-be thief) drop all interest in him after Simon pulled out his phone.
This led Simon to realize that his chance encounter was part of a potential mugging. “[Simon] overhead the would-be thief explaining to his apparent accomplice why they were giving up: “Phone’s dead, innit.””
As noted by John Gruber at Daring Fireball, iPhone-Android ownership in the UK is about 50-50. But clearly, at least because of high resale value, the iPhone remains a lot more desirable.