The real Apple iPhone 6
Cash-flush bidders for an alleged prototype of the Apple iPhone 6 smartphone have been left confused after the item up for auction on eBay had mysteriously been removed after bidding nearly topped US$100,000.
Alex Kantor, under the username ‘kimberlyk1018’, put the alleged iPhone 6 prototype up for sale on eBay because, he said, his network provider accidentally sent him the prototype after he had placed an order for an upgrade.
Although the starting bid had been at just under US$1,000, in the space of two days this had jumped to US$99,000, before the sale ended early with no explanation.
Image of the Switch Board operating system on the alleged iPhone 6 prototype. Image via eBay
In his item description on eBay, Kantor wrote he could “110pc guarantee on this being an authentic Apple prototype device”.
Kantor first became aware of it being not exactly what he ordered when he noticed the phone was not using iOS 8, but rather an operating system known as Switch Board, which is used internally by Apple to test its software.
Those who were originally looking to buy the 64GB iPhone 6 were not even guaranteed to be able to make calls or have a functional camera given its incomplete nature.
There has yet to be any official comment on why Kantor’s sale has been removed from eBay, but it may be down to Apple not being too happy that the general public looked to be profitting from its internal hardware.
