there’s no “maybe” about it, people forget that this was legislatively mandated at the time, and considered a positive step to prevent muggings and phone theft (which were drastically reduced by these measures). And this was actually done over the objections of the tech industry at the time.

https://www.techlicious.com/blog/call-for-kill-switch-to-dea...

https://www.cnn.com/2013/11/20/tech/mobile/smartphone-kill-s...

https://www.pcmag.com/news/cell-phone-kill-switches-prompt-d...