A Japanese man who has been struggling to sell a misprinted iPhone 11 Pro found himself inundated with tempting offers from buyers after photos of his device became the subject of fake news circulating on social media.
A few days ago, during my daily internet surfing sessions, I came across a South Korean article about an iPhone with a misaligned Apple logo that had apparently sold for $2,700. The explanation was that Apple’s quality control is so stringent that whenever design errors slip by, the handheld in question becomes somewhat of a collectible. Only it turned out that, like many other internet stories, this was just fake news picked up by several popular news outlets that didn’t bother doing any research.
Photo: @ArchiveInternal/Twitter
The photos were originally posted on Twitter by a small account called “Internal Archive”, which specializes in posting scoops on smartphone prototypes. In the original tweet, the author wrote that the misprinted iPhone had sold for 2700$, because the defect was so rare, “1 in 100 million or possibly even rarer”.
A misprint iPhone 11 Pro that sold for 2700$. This misprint is extremely rare- I’d say 1 in 100 million or possibly even rarer. pic.twitter.com/68F7giZAbm
— Internal Archive (@ArchiveInternal) April 9, 2021
The photos quickly went viral and were picked up by several reputable tech sites like Apple Insider or Mac Rumors, which only made it spread faster online. It wasn’t long before the photos reached the actual owner of the phone, who later replied to Intern Archive’s tweet, letting them know that it was their phone and that they still had it.
@9to5mac Any question？
It’s my device.
I tried to sell it, but nobody bought from me.
So I still have it😊 https://t.co/PP9AOBNOpc pic.twitter.com/db0OhVLMim— y.shimizu_D (@closeup_miracle) April 12, 2021
The owner of the misprinted Apple iPhone 11 Pro clarified that it was an iPhone 11 Pro Max, and that he had actually been struggling to sell his allegedly valuable handheld, because no one wanted to buy an iPhone with a manufacturing defect. But the viral fake news changed that, and all of a sudden people were asking them if the device was still for sale. It wasn’t…
Need information?
I’m the owner of this iPhone. Actually it is iPhone11PRO Max.
I tried to sell it few weeks ago, but nobody bought from me. So I still have it. pic.twitter.com/u3EQxJ4K9R— y.shimizu_D (@closeup_miracle) April 12, 2021
“No, I’m not selling it right now,” Twitter user @closeup_miracle replied to one person asking them if they were still selling the misprinted iPhone 11 Pro Max. I guess the handheld may now fetch even more than the alleged $2,700, now that the story has gone viral. Now it really is a collector’s item.
