If he was someone who feared losing subversive content, he's using the wrong device. The great thing about the iPhone is that "i" in the name. Stuff goes up to the cloud, is stored there and is linked to other devices and friends, automatically. Information bounces everywhere. That is one reason I do not own an iPhone. I own a TracFone. Nothing goes to the cloud. There is no subscription linking me to the phone. I can dispose of it anytime and get another.
My daughters own iPhones. They take pictures of my grandkids, content automatically goes up to the cloud galleries, and automatically flows to my home computer. Great communication device. Not so good for subversives, with copies of the data everywhere. As I posted already, he could simply have used an app to remotely wipe all his data. Not worth risking your life to retrieve an empty hunk of plastic after wiping it (which can be reloaded from the cloud backups by the owner).
Maybe. It’s possible. But I have an extremely hard time believing that iphones from a hard left company in possession of the ‘elite’ don’t have their own Apple approved and housed ‘JournO-List” areas on the cloud and a different set of options onboard than your kids commercial phone.
I mean there are several govt issued versions for security purposes. You don’t think their pet propogandists have some?