I do see a possible downside of being able to re-use parts from a broken iPhone. So parts that were never able to be unlinked while the phone worked.

Unless since it sounds like this is a remote database (and not something stored on the parts themselves) that maybe there could be a way to address this problem but that runs the risk of making a loophole to get around this.

Outside of that, I think doing this is great. Making a stolen device less and less valuable obviously won't stop everyone from stealing iPhones it should cut down on it happening.

I am curious about Apple's incentive to do this outside of just the above. Technically they would get less sales from people replacing their phones, but would also possibly reduce the cost of operating the "theft and loss" iPhone AppleCare+.