Tech companies not doing enough to stop phone theft, say MPs

Tech companies are not doing enough to combat mobile phone theft, MPs have said as they urged the Home Secretary to take a “robust stance” on the issue.

In a letter to Shabana Mahmood, the Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee expressed concern that companies including Apple, Samsung and Google were not implementing technical measures that could “design out” phone theft.

The committee said it had pressed the companies on why they had not implemented steps to prevent stolen handsets connecting to cloud accounts in foreign countries.

Such moves would make stolen handsets much less valuable if shipped overseas.

The MPs also expressed scepticism at companies’ claims in written evidence to the committee that phones were mainly being sold for parts, pointing to figures from the Metropolitan Police that 78% of stolen devices were later connected to overseas networks.

They said: “Their repeated pivots to answering questions about data security rather than devices, and insistence that the phones were broken down and sold for parts, without any evidence to support this assertion, was telling.”

In evidence to the committee, Apple said it was considering measures to allow for remote blocking of stolen devices, but had “concerns with this approach if wider privacy and security implications are not sufficiently considered”, adding there was no “silver bullet” to preventing theft.

Google insisted its existing protections offered a “robust solution”, while Samsung told the committee it made “significant contributions” to device security through its research.

Phone theft has become an increasing concern in recent years, especially in London where around 80,000 handsets were stolen last year, according to the Metropolitan Police.

Many of the devices end up being shipped overseas, with the Met alleging earlier in October that one smuggling network had sent up to 40,000 stolen phones from the UK to China in the past year.

The MPs told the Home Secretary they would “support a robust stance on this issue from the Government” and urged her to convene a phone theft summit with tech companies and the police.

Ministers held such a summit in February 2025 but a follow-up meeting planned for May this year did not take place.

Committee chairwoman Dame Chi Onwurah said: “Given the exploding growth of phone theft, it’s clear existing deterrents from tech companies are not working.

“To protect the public’s property, wellbeing and privacy, the Government must take a strong stance and hold the long-delayed follow-up phone theft summit.

“Only through such meetings can cooperation between Government, police and the tech companies be secured to ensure these technical measures are implemented.”

Apple, Google, Samsung and the Home Office have been contacted for comment.