How are devices like smattphones given unique IDs (IMEI numbers, MAC addresses) during the manufacturing process?
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In the most simple ways of old, a really large string is guessed and we hope that it doesn’t collide with any other device you meet. Those we call MAC. There isn’t anything to guarantee they are unique except for statistically it’s unlikely they’ll collide.
In more recent time, we started adding more Information than just MAC to a device. We identify the vendor, modell etc too. Those vendor id’s are in a big database. That together with the serial number / MAC that this vendor can guarantee to be unique among his produced products should be enough for a unique identification. Then again, no one is enforcing that vendors create unique MAC adresses.
In reality, MAC adresses clash rarely enough as to not be a problem. A system should also never use only MAC when it comes to security either, as those can be spoofed easily. iOS and Android for example offer to connect to wifi using a random MAC that isn’t actually theirs. A bad actor could even choose which one to use.
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