That iPhone 9 pic that popped up on your socials is 100% fake. Here’s how we know

Remember the iPhone 9? You don’t? That’s because there never was an iPhone 9. (If you do remember it, you’re probably thinking of the iPhone 8.) Apple skipped the iPhone 9 branding, went straight to 10 to coincide with the iPhone’s anniversary, and branded it as iPhone X.

That move by Apple was seen as an opportunity by social media personalities looking for attention. Reports with photos of prototype iPhone 9 models began to appear, and they were easily disproven. For example, this X post from 2023 claims to have photos of an iPhone prototype, but the device is clearly fake, from the Android-looking UI to the wrong font and errors on the documents.

Funny thing is, another well-known X poster is hoping to get some attention using the iPhone 9 myth. (I’ve decided not to name them, but you can see their name on the photo credit above.) “We have a prototype of the iPhone 9, this is what it would have looked like if Apple had released it,” says the May 29 post on X. However, the photos posted are the same photos from the 2023 X post I just mentioned–the same Android-esque screen, the same typos, etc. They simply found the pics and reposted them, hoping no one would recognize them from years ago. (It’s possible there are posts that are older than 2023; I didn’t research it further.)

If part of you still isn’t convinced that these prototype iPhone 9 pictures are fake, let me present to you one piece of evidence to seal the deal. The right half of the image at the top of this article–the so-called iPhone 9 prototype–is a crop of this image by Benjamin Geskin that was posted on Cult of Mac in 2019 (ironically, the image is used on a linkpost about iPhone prototypes). In 2017, Geskin posted images of iPhone 8 clones made in China, and his images are still being passed off by others as iPhone 9 prototypes. If that doesn’t convince you about the fake posts, then nothing will.

This post is a good reminder that Apple leaks are big business. There are many who post solid information, but far more who clearly don’t care if they’re right or wrong. They just want your attention, views, and shares. The best we can do is to always be dubious of unsubstantiated reports and understand who is conveying the message and why.