Update - April 17, 2024: The Mac Observer has retracted the article published by LeaksApplePro on April 15. The publication says the article was published without editorial oversight. Our original story is below.
A notorious fraudster in the Apple sphere is back in the headlines after reporting the world’s most obvious iPhone 16 Pro leak, months ahead of Apple’s anticipated launch of its next best iPhone. That’s right folks, somehow, LeaksApplePro returned.
Last spotted in January of 2023 trying to dupe the internet into believing Apple’s iPhone 15 Ultra would include a faster chip than the iPhone 15 Pro (the iPhone 15 Ultra wasn’t even real), amongst other things, LeaksApplePro is now working as a reporter at The Mac Observer, as of April 14.
According to a report published Monday (which we are not linking to), the iPhone 16 Pro is reportedly set to get the same 256GB base storage that’s currently offered in the iPhone 15 Pro Max, bringing the smaller iPhone 16 Pro in line with the iPhone 16 Pro Max. The iPhone 16 Pro lineup is already tipped to be a larger set of devices powered by the A18 series chips, featuring an all-new Capture button and a 48MP Ultra Wide camera.
Leaks? Apple? Bro…
At first glance, the rumor is extremely plausible. iPhone 16 Pro inheriting the Pro Max’s 256GB of storage wouldn’t be at all outlandish. In fact, the regular iPhone 16 Pro is currently slated to get the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 5x optical zoom camera, so this is an iPhone upgrade tactic that Apple employs regularly.
So while the rumor itself is perfectly plausible, unfortunately, it comes with all of the baggage we’ve previously discussed regarding LeaksApplePro’s track record of misleading followers for clout.
As we noted in 2023, LAP “is widely understood by the Apple community to be a completely fake account with no track record of leaking accurate inside information about Apple's plans. In fact, it is notorious for making up information or regurgitating and repeating pre-existing information, as well as guesswork.”
The LeaksApplePro account once claimed it was live inside Apple Park during the filming of the iPhone 12 event, and that Tim Cook threw everyone out of the auditorium because of real-time leaks.
My absolute favorite LeaksApplePro moment is the time he pretended to be inside Apple Park while they were filming the iPhone 12 event, and that Tim Cook threw everyone out because he was live tweeting it https://t.co/1To2ECLjNR pic.twitter.com/8EfkjaINuwJanuary 26, 2023
As noted by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman regarding previous leaks, “Beware of any stories you read today about iOS 17. Entirely based on a troll account known to make up fake information. Very surprised at reputable sites covering it."
Apple’s iPhone 16 is set to be unveiled in its usual September launch window later this year. Perhaps the biggest rumored upgrade is a heavy focus on Apple’s AI plans, which might well debut with iOS 18 at WWDC 2024 in June.
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