For any would be theives out there (and to dispel a lot of the insane speculation I've seen posted), the next time you're at an Apple Store, go into settings on any of the demos and take a look at iCloud.
Every iOS device and Mac is logged into iCloud with '
ars.storenumber@icloud.com' with Find My iPhone/Mac on. Each device has a specific assignment, and can very easily be remote wiped based off of a number of different parameters.
Additionally, each device is in fact brand new, taken out of standard retail packaging - however, there is a visuals team who specifically loads an image of a custom retail demo on top of iOS/OSX that cannot be removed by anyone outside of an Apple Store. On the iOS devices, the retail demo loop will just turn itself back on, repeatedly. On the Macs, OSX is 'frozen' into a demo state, and would need to be 'thawed' to make any real permanent changes.
Even from inside the Apple Store, you still couldn't just wipe a device, as the necessary software to DFU in iTunes only lives on a Mac mini, which is mounted as a receive only server in the back of house. The software is then transferred to a handful of floater MBP's, which in turn load the retail demo onto the devices one by one.
I've spent many overnights as a member of the visuals team, updating two phones/macs at a time with a MBP/hard drive. Rinse and repeat until the job is done. It's the same setup for the Mac demos, except an external hard drive is used, and those have an additional layer of security within OSX which prevent a restore, and 'freeze' the computers into a demo state that wipes itself clean of any changes made to it, each and every night
On top of all of that, only a handful of people have the iCloud/Mac passwords, and they change often.
I've been out of the company for a bit now, and I'm sure there aren't other methods to prevent theft. Also, you can't see them, but cameras do cover all areas of the store. And for those who think they can just pretend to use the Apple Store app to check themselves out with Apple Pay...there are people in the store holding iPads that receive a notification when someone uses self check-out, and they'll ask you for a receipt.
Lastly - theft is bad and hurts the consumer in the long run, no matter the size of the company or their profits.
