Half of the time stolen iPhones are listed for sale to try and scam people into thinking they are getting a good deal on an iPhone yet it will be basically useless for a new owner since it will be backlisted among other things.

The other main reason which is far less profitable for thieves is to part out stolen iPhones but thanks to apples efforts to serialize parts and in some cases basically disable them from working as intended (which also hurts right to repair efforts) that’s if you can safely extract them from the phone to begin with become basically useless on another iPhone and the fact the parts are obviously no longer new OEM and could be damaged as well.

A third reason comes down to criminals being stupid and not many realizing the hassle it takes to make any amount of profit off a stolen iPhone and how locked down a stolen iPhone is in actuality.

Unless you’re an absolute camera nerd like me with smartphones the differences year to year for the past few years are more minute than ever. This year coming from the 14 Pro Max I can appreciate the more consistent HDR and overall camera processing and the 5x is a nice to have on the Max. It’s also the little things I like as you mention the lighter phone and some other niceties.

I have it because 1. These are expensive devices and 2. Much cheaper to get it repaired or replaced if it’s stolen.

This has been a thing for years and is done on device no internet required and is a pretty neat and useful feature. Nothing creepy about it.

2-3 years at least.

Sorry to hear you’ve had a bad experience. Have made several purchases from gazelle and a few trade ins, never had an issue.

Sounds like bad luck on your end. But in general with the volume apple ships products at defective units are bound to pop up here and there.

I get two solid days with mine on the latest WatchOS.