India, Nov. 19 -- A surge in mobile phone snatching incidents across London is revealing an unexpected pattern: thieves are becoming surprisingly picky, and iPhone owners are paying the price. The city has long wrestled with so-called "Apple picking", a term coined for the growing trend of thieves grabbing smartphones right out of people's hands. But recent victim accounts suggest the label has never been more accurate. Criminals seem to be deliberately targeting iPhones while openly rejecting Android devices, often in comically blunt fashion.

Mark, one of several Londoners who spoke to London Centric, says his encounter with an e-bike-riding thief left him stunned, not because of the theft attempt, but because of the rejection that foll...