United Kingdom, June 12 -- Apple is teaming up with the Metropolitan Police to combat iPhone thieves.

The UK's police force is partnering with the tech giant as part of an effort to encourage companies to make stolen phones harder to reset and reuse.

Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told the BBC: "If stolen phones cannot be reactivated, their value collapses, and so does the incentive to steal them."

Smartphones have been a major target for thieves, with value increasing once they're exporting to countries like China, where they wouldn't include the usual local government restrictions.

However, it's said Apple have "cracked" an engineering issue allowing thieves to use illicit software to factory reset stolen devices.

Although...