Since the revelation, there have been questions over whether the Apple employee testing the device will be disciplined for being part of a leak. Let me be clear on that: The testing process seen in the images went as intended, and the employee — and Apple — were basically just unlucky.

There are hundreds of iPhone 17s being actively used around the world right now in stealth cases. It just so happens that a member of the public knew exactly what they were looking at and that the iPhone design is different enough (see the relocated lidar and LED flash) to be noticeable. It’s possible that many of you reading this have seen unreleased Apple devices in the wild without ever realizing it.