An eBay auction of an alleged iPhone 6 prototype has been cancelled after bidding reached over $100,000, the seller says the “item is no longer available.”
Kantor claims to have been delivered the prototype after ordering an upgrade from U.S. network Verizon. Despite his account Kimberlyk1018 listing only one previous sale, bidders were not deterred by the lack of feedback from other eBay users. Kantor himself offered a “110% guarantee” that the prototype was genuine.
iPhone 6 Specifications
The pictures accompanying the listing show the iPhone 6 operating in developer mode, not using iOS 8. As well as lacking the regulation branding normally found on the back of the phone, it also had a special red charging port.
Kantor told CNET: “I determined that this iPhone was a version not meant for the consumer market after seeing the software version on it. I am an avid tech lover and I knew what this software was right away.
“It’s actually called SwitchBoard and is only for internal Apple testing.”
iPhone 6 auction – Apple intervention?
It would appear that Kantor cancelled the listing, rather than the device having been sold. Commentators have speculated as to whether Apple stepped in to prevent the sale.
The company successfully obtained the return of an iPhone 4G prototype in 2010. The device was found and sold to technology blog Gizmodo. Both the blog and the seller found themselves pursued by the Apple legal team.
Extortion charges were reluctantly dropped due to insufficient evidence, but Gizmodo had to return the phone to Apple.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has so far declined to comment on the iPhone 6 prototype, and the technology world is awaiting a response to the latest accidental leak of a prototype. You have to wonder whether the device will change hands before it is returned to Apple, with potential buyers presumably put off by the company’s previous action against Gizmodo.
