Has the iPhone 5se been revealed early?
No, probably not - but potential Chinese knock-off looks convincing
With seven days to go until Apple’s next big event, we’re reaching fever pitch over the iPhone 5se – but new images might have leaked the phone ahead of time.
Ok, no, they probably haven’t.
What you’re most likely looking at is a convincing Chinese knock-off, based on the design Apple’s rumoured to be going with for the 4in iPhone 5se.
The pics supposedly come from Beeep.co, an exporter of Chinese tech to the west, only that website isn’t registered to anyone.
Beeep claims the phone was picked up in Huaqiangbei Shenzhen, otherwise known as the “silicon valley of hardware”, but we aren’t convinced – especially seeing as the accompanying video doesn’t show the phone in action.
Notice how the screens aren’t on in any of the photos? Either this is a dummy unit, somehow spirited away from one of Apple’s factories, or (much more likely) it’s a fake running a different operating system altogether.
It doesn’t help that the holes on the bottom of the iPhone 6s seem to be missing some screws, too – casting the whole thing even further into doubt.
So why share the pics with you, then? Because it’s the best indication yet of what a 4in iPhone based on the current design might look like.
There’s always a chance Apple has a complete surprise in store, and will be going for a completely different look for its more compact iPhone, but with a design chance not expected until the iPhone 7 in September, this seems like it’ll be the phone we’ll get – only, y’know, actually from Apple and running iOS.
We’ll find out on the 21st of March, when Apple’s "let us loop you in" event kicks off in San Francisco.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
