User orders iPhone 15 Pro Max on official Apple website and receives fake phone running on Android (photo)

A user from the UK with the nickname theEdmard ordered an iPhone 15 Pro Max on the official Apple website and received a fake phone.

On Reddit, he said that after ordering, he received all delivery confirmation emails from Apple and order tracking information from the courier service Dynamic Parcel Distribution (DPD). The packaging and shipping box did not appear damaged or tampered with. But when he opened the box of the supposed flagship iPhone, he immediately knew something was wrong. The first thing he noticed was that there was a protective film on the phone's screen, which made him think he might have been sent a phone that was used and returned. But everything turned out to be even worse.

The next thing the user noticed was that the screen was incorrect - with too large bezels and clearly not OLED. The phone's settings, operating system (which turned out to be Android, which tried to imitate the iOS interface, but with poor quality) and pre-installed applications like TikTok, Facebook and YouTube erased any doubt: it was a fake.

Luckily, theEdmard didn't sign in with his Apple ID and didn't set up Apple Wallet on the fake device. If he did this, there is a good chance that his personal and financial information could have been stolen by the creators of the fake device.

Receiving a counterfeit iPhone after placing an order directly with Apple is truly an unusual situation. Similar incidents happen when buying expensive smartphones on various e-commerce platforms, but Apple itself is known for its safe delivery. Most likely, in this case, the replacement of a real smartphone with a fake one occurred somewhere between Apple sending the phone and receiving it by the customer.

Note that the affected buyer has already submitted a request to Apple support, and the company has promised that it will soon contact him and investigate the situation.