Apple is rolling out a device that runs health checks on iPhones inside sealed boxes, aimed at return fraud and faster handling of returns in its stores.
Apple is putting a new device in its stores that can check an iPhone without opening the box. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the machines began arriving in October 2026 and are now going live. The goal is to catch return fraud and avoid wasting phones that could still be sold.
Some buyers reportedly take the phone, or parts from it, and return the box. Sometimes the parts are resold through aftermarket channels. To catch this, employees have been opening even sealed boxes. Once a box is opened, a phone that could have been sold as new may need extra processing.
The tool is built on Presto, an Apple system that can wake an iPhone inside its sealed box, install software wirelessly, and switch it off again. The new version runs diagnostics, meaning automatic health checks, to see whether the phone is intact.
Apple has not said which faults the scan can find. It is not a guarantee that every sealed box is genuine or that every kind of tampering will be caught. Whether Apple will expand it beyond its stores, or to other products, is unclear.
For shoppers who return a new iPhone, the likely benefit is fewer delays from manual checks and a box that stays sealed.
If you return a new iPhone to Apple, staff may check it without opening the box, but Apple has not said what the scan can catch.
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