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Apple might be missing an Iphone 5 in China
FRUIT THEMED GADGET FIRM Apple might have lost an Iphone 5 prototype to fast-fingered Chinese counterfeiters.
A report from M.I.C. Gadget says that local sources are blabbing about the missing unit that is already being used to kick start a new range of forged cases for the device.
"While on a trip to Shenzhen last weekend, our crew received a tip from an iPhone accessories supplier that an iPhone 5 prototype had gone missing from the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen Futian district," writes the web site's reporter.
The Iphone prototype is said to have left the factory disguised as a current model, like the Iphone 4. However, with rumours abounding that the handset will be bigger, this is a little confusing.
"The missing prototype is said to have been enclosed in a case to disguise it as a current-generation iPhone 4," adds the report. "How Apple achieved that with the iPhone 5 supposedly wider and longer than the current iPhone 4 is a point to ponder."
Although you would expect that Apple would be able to track down the missing handset, the report adds that whoever left Foxconn with it removed its software and disabled its GPS system, meaning that it was lost in the wild.
M.I.C. Gadget said that sources alleged a sale price of around $3,100, and has been informed that Foxconn is aware of the leak. It added that internal management had already been punished.
Although there are just cases being made for sale, the report adds that thousands have already been sold. The cases are thinner than those for the Iphone 4, but are wider and longer.
Apple does not treat counterfeiting lightly, and is actively pursuing Samsung for apparently mimicking its hardware designs. Today we reported that a gang of counterfeiters were arrested in Shanghai, while earlier when an Iphone 5 went missing in San Francisco, the firm called in the full weight of off-duty cops to try to retrieve it. µ
Tags: Apple
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What Apple should do is 'lose' several iPhone prototypes before each generation, but all a bit different in design. Then if they lose one for real no one would know for sure it was the real design. Sure it would cost a lot to produce one off custom iPhones like this, but given the billions Apple makes in profit from them, this type of protection amounts to almost nothing.
Then Apple gets the last laugh if Chinese cloners or case makers waste a bunch of money using the wrong 'lost' phone as their model!
They just need to pursue all the lost phones equally as hard. Who knows, if one was lost in China and one in SF, maybe they are already doing this and the cases being made won't fit the phone Apple announces next week.