Man orders iPhone 15 from Apple website, gets fake Android device

A Reddit user claims he received a fake iPhone 15 Pro from Apple (Image: theEdmard/Reddit)

A UK-based Reddit user has claimed he ordered an iPhone 15 Pro directly from Apple’s website, only to receive a counterfeit product.

Ed from Surrey, England, who goes by the Reddit handle theEdmard, said he received what should have been his brand new iPhone 15 Pro on Saturday and immediately noticed something wrong.

“I immediately knew it wasn't right. I opened the box and the first thing I notice is the screen protector. First thoughts were, had I been sent a return?” he said in his now-viral Reddit post, including photographs of the device he received.

“The next thing I notice when I turn it on, the screen isn’t right, it lights up the black area in a way that is clearly not OLED and the bottom has a 'Chin' which suggests this is not correct for the phone,” the Surrey resident wrote. Genuine Apple iPhones have uniform bezels all around the screen, with no ‘chin’.

He said that instead of an iPhone, he had received an Android device running a software skin that mimicked Apple's iOS user interface.

I got a fake iPhone 15 Pro from Apple - PSA byu/theEdmard inapple

“I saw actual android toasts popping up in some cases,” the Reddit user said, also pointing out that the device came with TikTok, Facebook and YouTube pre-installed. Moreover, the battery settings page made it clear the phone had been used before.

He said the device would likely have fooled someone not as tech-savvy as him – noting that it “is a match to the spec I ordered, Pro Max in natural titanium.”

Mashable reached out to the Reddit user and reviewed the order confirmation email he received from Apple. Ed, who did not reveal his last name, said that Apple has been “very accommodating” but his issue has not been resolved yet.

In his post, he raised the possibility of scammers sending fake devices with the motive of getting a user’s passwords, banking details etc. “It could be a scam to get my data - beware with your new phone purchases!” he concluded.