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Comment by zyb09 | Hacker News Reader

A bit sensational to call a reference to an unknown product that's likely going to be unveiled in 2 days, as well as some minor feature like Animojis, a major leak. This is what suffering a major leak looks like: http://gizmodo.com/5520164/this-is-apples-next-iphone

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I'd argue that this is even worse than the misplaced prototype. This leak confirms much of the speculation around the design of the new phone but also gives away new information about the software it will use (animojis, faceID) plus the new Apple Watch with LTE.

I disagree. We now know what FaceID is called, how it works, exactly what the device looks like and how the status bar works, that there are new AirPods coming, the name of the new thing, the name of the updates to the old thing, and a software feature that no one could've ever gotten out of hardware chain leaks.

This is without a doubt the biggest leak since the iPhone 4 you pointed too. If it wasn't for the HomePod firmware leak a month ago this would've been even more devastating.

"Devastating" is an awfully strong word for what's happened. Really curious people know a few features a little earlier than they would have otherwise. It's hard to prove that this will even have any negative effects; it generates buzz and excitement around a launch.

For a personal anecdote, I honestly didn't know there was a new iPhone coming out soon. Now I do, and I'm curious. Plus, my sister-in-law mentioned this morning that she wants a new phone, this might help her decide. I don't understand why this is such a terrible thing.

Negative affects? No, not really. But Apple managed to have a TON of secrecy this year where no one was really sure what was going on. We didn't even have much in the way of hardware leaks this year.

Then they had the HomePod leak, now this. A lot of the surprises that we're going to be in their presentation are now known by the enthusiast set.

It's really a stolen thunder/pride thing.

I'm a little surprised you didn't know a new iPhone was coming as they announce them the same time every year.

> If it wasn't for the HomePod firmware leak a month ago this would've been even more devastating

The latest "leak" conveniently happens days away from their new release and gets everyone talking about it. Wow, so harmful!

Let me ask you this: everyone was going to be talking about it on Tuesday anyway. In what way would Apple benefit from having this news released two or three days early?

If a competitor put out a bunch of news on Friday then this would be taking up their PR time so there could be a benefit, but as far as I'm aware that didn't happen.

There isn't really anything in here that will help people get used to some possible controversy (like the leaks of the lack of the headphone jack on the seven).

What would this accomplished other than to make the Tuesday event less special/magical?

I think it's obvious that people are more likely to buy products with hype around them.

I agree, but I don't think this raises the hype over what we would've had after Tuesday anyway. If anything I think it slightly weakens what would have come from Tuesday.

> everyone was going to be talking about it on Tuesday anyway

I imagine I'll see a headline in the news on Tuesday, probably a HN thread, and maybe a 30% chance someone at work will mention that there's a new iphone coming out. The 10 minutes I spent reading this article are a fairly significant increase in total attention I'll give to the release.

"magical" :-)

It's not like there's only the One Big Leak that can be called major. This is pretty damn big. Now the whole damn world know what the next iPhone looks like, what features it will have, and then some.

I think the quotes in the headline might be better suited around 'suffers.' I'm half convinced these sort of things are intentional.

Apple does leak things intentionally, we pretty much know that. For example last year it's widely assumed that they were responsible for the leaks about the headphone jack disappearing so that the enthusiasts set would know what was coming and have some time to "get over it" some.

It's also assumed that Apple leaked the thousand dollar price for the original iPad just so they could announce it at $500 and blow everyone away.

In both cases the leak benefited Apple.

I'm not sure what in this leak would be beneficial to Apple. All it does is make it so people will be less surprised on Tuesday and they won't be able to catch people by surprise as much.

I'm strongly willing to bet that this leak (in the HomePod a month ago) we're purposefully done by Apple.

It's pretty obvious someone did this purposefully, but I don't think they did it with Apple's blessing/planning. It was an individual employee (or a few) doing it on their own.

Would you say they suffered? It would be interesting to know which leaks are sanctioned, as well. This one? It looks like it just gives them more free publicity.

Anything about Apple gets publicity, but now it's not as much of a surprise on Tuesday. They work really hard on that surprise so I don't see why they would leak it Friday.

Sometimes the leaks have a clear benefits to Apple, I don't think this is one of them.

I'm going to speculate that anyone who was interested in Tuesday's revelations will still be observing on Tuesday. This is Apple, after all. They have a pretty dedicated following.

Before the GM leak, we had no idea how the status bar and face recognition would operate. Now we know all of it.

Unless Apple has other hardware in the pipeline or another hardware feature for the TV or Watch, there will be no surprises. I'm sure the execs are pissed, as they want people to watch the keynote completely unspoiled.

Don't be fooled, it's desperate PR.

Our current phones have all we need. Nobody cares about any new over-engineered and over-priced iphone anymore, we've got bigger issues at hand now.

"Our", "we", "nobody", "we've" ... was there a election I missed?

What was the nature of MTV? For me it was insatiable desire. Thats the very nature of Americans. We want what we don't have. One of the characteristics of American consumers in the early 80's was Shop till you drop. "I want it. I don't know what it is but I want it." - Dale Pon, Advertising exec part of the MTV launch campaign in Aug 1981

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