Apple has sent another warning to a leaker from China, demanding that he reveal his sources. The company is threatening to report him to the police.
How Vice now reported, a Chinese citizen who shared pictures of stolen Apple prototypes on social media received a cease and desist letter on June 18, 2021. This was issued by Fangda Partners, Apple's law firm in China. Below is an excerpt from the letter:
Apple's Leaks: "Violation of Apple's trade secrets"
You have published a large amount of information regarding Apple's unreleased and rumored products without authorization, which constituted a willful violation of Apple's trade secrets. Through an investigation, Apple has obtained relevant evidence about your unauthorized disclosure of Apple's unreleased and rumored products. Your willful violation is specifically manifested in: the publication of unreleased information about Apple's new products via social media platforms, including but not limited to the design and performance of these new products.
The letter demands that the recipient stop sourcing, advertising and selling leaked Apple devices and demands information about anyone who provided the person with leaked devices. The leaker was also asked to sign a document agreeing to comply with the demands within 14 days of receiving the letter. It is not clear who the Chinese national was who leaked the prototypes in this particular case.
Is this Mr. White?
A previous investigation by Vice found that there is a grey market fuelled by Chinese Apple or Foxconn employees smuggling unreleased hardware out of factories, allowing other dealers to acquire devices to sell to collectors, some of whom post images on social media. Interestingly, the original Twitter account of the leaker known as "Mr. White" (@laobaiTD) was deleted around June 11. While there is a new Mr. White account on Twitter that posts images of Apple prototypes, the original @laobaiTD was responsible for a large amount of leaks. As a reminder:
From the iPod touch 5 to the iPhone 12
Mr. White has leaked exact images of the rear glass of the iPhone 12 Pro, an iPhone 12 mini display unit, the A14 chip, the iPad mini 5 case and much more. The images were all published before the official unveiling and turned out to be correct every time. The anonymous leaker also revealed products such as the Apple Watch Series 5 (ceramic version), a black iPhone X and the fifth generation iPod touch. In addition, many other images of various accessories were published in advance via the account. Accordingly, it is currently suspected that this Chinese citizen, who was recently contacted by Apple, could be Mr. White. However, this cannot be confirmed with certainty at the moment. Accordingly, the further course of events should remain quite interesting. (Image: Apple)
