Apple Said to Be Forming Chinese Task Force to Catch iPhone 6 Leakers

We’ve seen plenty of iPhone 6 information leaks this year, ranging from mockups, schematics leaks, and more recently rear-shell images coming from the far East. Since all of these leaks are against Apple’s secrecy policy, the company is working with Chinese officials to stop them, says Sonny Dickson, who has been a great source of Apple hardware rumours.

Dickson made Apple’s move public through Twitter, saying that Apple has hired about 200 security officers, who have been assigned to catch iPhone 6 leakers.

Fact: Apple had asked Chinese authorities to catch those who are trying to leak i6.

— Sonny Dickson (@SonnyDickson) May 30, 2014

There are about 200 security officers trying to catch those who dare to sell i6 accessories.

— Sonny Dickson (@SonnyDickson) May 30, 2014

Since the above tweets went live, Sonny Dickson has also penned an article – the background story – about the operation he was referring to in his tweets. Apple has turned a blind eye to accessory makers who leaked iPhone 5, 5c, and 5s cases, but it doesn’t want a repeat with the iPhone 6.

On May 27th, Shen Zhen Customs (Shenzhen anti-smuggling governing body), and Hua Qiang street authorities, stormed the YuanWang Mall to try to catch some of those smugglers and whoever was said to sell Apple/Samsung/Nokia/etc units, or fake Apple/Samsung/Nokia units. More than 120 government officials are involved in this operation.

Apple may have had a role in this raid, since Apple have the ability to track all serials & activations between HK and China.

Thousands of Apple and Samsung products have been confiscated on that one single day. They found out that one smugglers caught, had trafficked more than 10mil RMB (roughly 1.8mil USD) worth of goods since Feb-2014, and that should be a number in the low end.

There is one issue, though: since the iPhone is not manufactured in the US, but in other parts of the world, the lengthy supply chain does involve the risk of information leaks. That has been the topic of multiple past discussions, and some Apple employees speaking with Ars Technica called the company’s security measures “really outdated”; hence the image leaks.