Before Apple officially released the iPhone 18 Pro, a physical prototype of this new flagship model appeared online in a very un-Apple way. Recently, two videos purportedly from controlled environment experiments were spread on social platforms. The content was a drop test of an unreleased iPhone 18 Pro, clearly showing its appearance design. Judging from the video footage, the overall shape of the new phone is very close to the existing iPhone 17 Pro, with only slight differences in details, continuing Apple’s line of small appearance iterations in the past two generations of products.
These two drop test videos were shared on the X platform for the first time by the account @evleaks, which attracted widespread attention from the outside world. However, according to subsequent verification, the account is not related to the well-known whistleblower Evan Blass, and the relevant account has also been suspended by the X platform. The video adopts a test method under a controlled environment. The screen mainly focuses on the drop performance of the fuselage at different heights and postures, and does not involve specific hardware parameters or functional details.
Regarding why these videos were leaked in advance, the industry is currently focusing on the latest security incident in Apple’s supply chain. Apple's manufacturing partner Tata Electronics recently suffered a ransomware attack, which involved the illegal theft of a large number of component design files and specification documents related to Apple and other customers. According to Reuters, the attack resulted in more than 200,000 files being uploaded to the dark web, including Apple component designs and technical information. It is speculated that content related to the iPhone 18 Pro prototype may also be within the scope of the data leak.
It is unclear what actual impact this leak will have on Apple's subsequent product release rhythm and information control. After the Reuters report was released, security circles generally believed that as more files on the dark web are parsed and spread, Apple may face the risk of more exposure of specifications, designs and even testing information about unreleased products in the coming days or weeks. As of press time, Apple has not issued a formal public statement on the ransomware attack on Tata Electronics and related data leaks.