Leaks are par for the course in the tech world, and whether it be the Nintendo Switch 2 being leaked ahead of schedule or Rockstar Games being forced to drop the first GTA 6 trailer after it made its way online early, these tech giants tend to roll with the punches.
It's no different for Apple, and you only have to look at the deluge of leaks about the iPhone 17, talks of an iPhone 17 Air, and even foldable iPhones to see that not much has changed over the years. However, all of this is relatively minor when compared to Apple's 'biggest' leak of all time. Casting your minds back to 2010, the early days of the iPhone were marred by the explosive leak of the iPhone 4.
Things all went wrong for Apple employee Gray Powell, who reported the iPhone 4 prototype as missing after attending a bar in California's Redwood City. It was only when tech site Gizmodo posted a hands-on impression of the iPhone 4 on April 19, 2010, that Apple realised the trouble that it could be in. As this was a month and a half before Steve Jobs would introduce the iPhone 4 as the final device of his career at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, it was clear something had gone very wrong.
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Although the prototype was disguised as a 3GS, Gizmodo's in-depth breakdown revealed all of the iPhone 4's big secrets ahead of time.
In a resurfaced Reddit thread, Brian Hogan tells his side of the story after he found an iPhone 4 prototype in a bar. Saying he was just a drunk 21-year-old, Hogan didn't think to hand in the device. Instead, he tried to sell the phone to Gizmodo. Apparently, the popular tech site never paid the OP what he was promised.
Writing in the thread, Hogan explained: "Gizmodo told me they would give me $5,000 for the story, and another $3,000 after it was confirmed by Apple to be real."
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Sadly for him, things didn't pan out that way as he added: "They knew that there was no way in hell I was going to be able to ask for the $3,000 after the story aired, but I didn't."
It's not just Apple with fancy lawyers on its side, with the story taking another turn. Hogan concluded: "I ended up having to hire an expensive lawyer and had to pay him much, much more than $5,000."
Hogan was lucky, as he and accomplice Sage Wallower (who helped him try and shop the device to various tech outlets) were given one year of probation, 40 hours of community service, and ordered to pay Apple $250 each in restitution. At least they got to keep the rest of the $5,000 they got from Gizmodo.
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As for Gizmodo, officers acting under the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team task force of the California HTTAP Program raided the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen. Chen had reviewed the iPhone 4 prototype, with the team seizing his computers and hard drives. Alongside criticism that the REACT officers had violated protections surrounding a journalist's source, the prototype had already been returned to Apple. The District Attorney suspended the investigation, and no charges were issued. It looks like Apple learned its lesson on how leaving prototypes in bars probably isn't the best way to get word about your latest iPhone out there.