And the lock is collateral against a small, high-demand object that can easily be fenced. The phone lock is essentially the same as a hold against a car title until it’s paid off.

This would only be a real problem if there were no options to buy phones direct/outright without the lock. Instead, we’re likely to end up in some situation where carriers work with phone manufacturers to implement a sort of higher-level device lock feature that stipulates the device “belongs” to the carrier and can be functionally locked (a la the stolen device lock features that currently exist) if they ever go unpaid.