Apple fans fear new iPhone accessory will make them ‘easy target’ for thieves

APPLE showed off a number of brand new accessories alongside the iPhone 17 – and one in particular has caught people’s attention over fears it’ll make them a target for thieves.

iPhone fans are dubbing the product a new “fashion piece” that you could see dangling from people’s waists very soon.

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The Crossbody Strap is designed to be a “convenient and hands-free way to wear iPhone”, Apple says.

It features narrow woven straps to drape your iPhone comfortably across the body.

But not everyone is convinced it’ll be an option for phone snatching cities like London or New York.

Data obtained by The Sun recently revealed almost 80,000 handsets were stolen last year in London alone.

And recent findings suggest 80 per cent of stolen devices in the UK as a whole are iPhone – with the iPhone 15 Pro Max the most snatched model of all.

So it’s no wonder some viewers watching Apple’s big iPhone 17 launch were a little worried about the Crossbody Strap.

“The ridiculous crossbody strap is pointless if you live in London, and probably other major western cities,” one person wrote on X.

“Easy target for criminals,” another chimed.

“Apple made a ‘crossbody strap’ for the London snatchers without saying it was for the London snatchers,” a third commented.

People were also shocked by the price of it, at £59 / $59.

But it wasn’t the only new accessory to be unveiled by Apple.

A slim MagSafe battery pack was launched, optimised for iPhone Air which is Apple’s thinnest iPhone ever.

It’s made from titanium and comes in at 5.5mm – by comparison, the iPhone 16 was 7.8mm.

There was also new Apple Watch models that will be able to detect high blood pressure, as well as AirPods that can translate conversations in real time when you’re on holiday.