Apple traditionally uses an 11-digit serial number for its products of the form
FF Y WW NNN MMM
where the individual parts have the following meaning
FF | factory location |
Y | last digit of the production year |
WW | production week number |
NNN | running number, encoded alphanumerically |
MMM | three-digit model number |
Meanwhile, the number space is insufficient for some types of devices, and Apple also uses new 12-digit numbers of the form
FFF Y W NNN MMMM
with a similar meaning of the components as before. However, the encoding has changed:
FFF | factory location |
Y | last digit of the production half-year within a decade, encoded alphabetically, omitting A, B, E, I, O, and U |
W | production week in the half-year, encoded alphanumerically, omitting A, B, E, I, O, S, U, and Z |
NNN | running number, encoded alphanumerically |
MMMM | four-digit model number |
Here is a list of the Y values:
Y | half-year |
C | 2010 (1st half) |
D | 2010 (2nd half) |
F | 2011 (1st half) |
G | 2011 (2nd half) |
H | 2012 (1st half) |
J | 2012 (2nd half) |
K | 2013 (1st half) |
L | 2013 (2nd half) |
M | 2014 (1st half) |
N | 2014 (2nd half) |
P | 2015 (1st half) |
Q | 2015 (2nd half) |
R | 2016 (1st half) |
S | 2016 (2nd half) |
T | 2017 (1st half) |
V | 2017 (2nd half) |
W | 2018 (1st half) |
X | 2018 (2nd half) |
Y | 2019 (1st half) |
Z | 2019 (2nd half) |
Here are the W values:
W | week number (1st half) | week number (2nd half) |
1 | 1 | 27 |
2 | 2 | 28 |
3 | 3 | 29 |
4 | 4 | 30 |
5 | 5 | 31 |
6 | 6 | 32 |
7 | 7 | 33 |
8 | 8 | 34 |
9 | 9 | 35 |
C | 10 | 36 |
D | 11 | 37 |
F | 12 | 38 |
G | 13 | 39 |
H | 14 | 40 |
J | 15 | 41 |
K | 16 | 42 |
L | 17 | 43 |
M | 18 | 44 |
N | 19 | 45 |
P | 20 | 46 |
Q | 21 | 47 |
R | 22 | 48 |
T | 23 | 49 |
V | 24 | 50 |
W | 25 | 51 |
X | 26 | 52 |
Y | 27 | 53 |
