imagine a world where people who are forced to steal are competent enough not only to know which phones they can sell, but to be able to guess the make and model in the middle of a mugging

No need to imagine. This actually happens with watches.

In Hong Kong (and likely other cities), you can pick a watch from a "catalog" that is a binder of photos of watches on people's wrists in public, and the middleman will have the watch custom-stolen for you.

Part of me believes this is true. The other part suspects this is a fancy way to sell custom fakes with no refunds.