Skip to main content

Apple lost another prototype iPhone in local bar

cava 22 site of the 2nd lost iphoneIt looks like Apple employees haven’t learned anything from last year’s lost iPhone scandal. Cnet is reporting that an Apple employee lost a prototype iPhone at a San Francisco bar in late July. The phone was lost at the bar Cava 22, which is a tequila bar in the mission district. The situation sounds like a complete re-hash of what happened last year when a prototype iPhone 4 was lost in a Redwood City bar.

A couple of days after the phone was lost San Francisco police and Apple investigators used the phone’s built in GPS to attempt to pinpoint where the phone was located. The search ended at a house in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights district, where the 22 year old resident denied any knowledge of the phone. The man did confirm that he was at Cava 22 the night the phone was lost but insisted that he did not have the phone. He then let the police search his house, but the phone was not found. Before leaving the house an Apple employee offered the man a cash reward for the phone, no questions asked.

The story continues. It is reported that the prototype phone was then sold on Craigslist to an unknown buyer. The phone sold for only $200, which is quite a bit less than the $5000 paid last year by a tech blog.

Apple has denied any knowledge of the incident, and San Francisco police stated that Apple did not file a police report for the lost merchandise. If this story is true it would be a big blow to Apple’s ego since the company takes pride in its secretive nature. With the number of  rumors are flying around about the next iPhone it’s amazing that images of the device haven’t surfaced yet.

Editors' Recommendations

Mike Dunn
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Mike graduated from University of Arizona with a degree in poetry, and made his big break by writing love sonnets to the…
Best iPhone 14 deals: Unlocked and refurbished
The Apple iPhone 14 Pro's camera module

Some of the best Apple deals and best iPhone deals come from the iPhone 14 lineup. While it has been around a couple of years now, the iPhone 14 is still only one generation old as iPhone releases go. This means it still has a lot to offer, including much of what can be found in the newer iPhone 15, but it will often see some impressive price drops. Many of the best iPhone 14 deals we’re seeing right now are on refurbished models, but both new and refurbished models are out there, and each makes for some of the best phone deals going on at the moment. You’ll find all of the information you need to save on an iPhone 14 below, but if you’d like to land yourself the latest and greatest you should also check out the current iPhone 15 deals, Samsung Galaxy S24 deals, and Google Pixel 8 deals.
Apple iPhone 14 -- from $491, was $699

With the Apple iPhone 14 you’re getting what is still one of the most popular smartphones on the market. This is the iPhone 14 model that’s meant for everyone. It holds back a few features you can only get on the Pro model, but it still has an impressive 6.1-inch display, an impressive camera, and dozens of ways to personalize your iOS experience with widgets and fonts. The phone can reach up to 26 hours of battery life on a single charge, and it’s powered by Apple’s A15 Bionic chip. Face ID, emergency SOS via satellite, and super fast 5G cellular connectivity round out the top features of the Apple iPhone 14.
Buy Refurbished at Amazon — from $491

Read more
Here’s how iOS 18 could change the way you use your iPhone
The lock screen on the Apple iPhone 15 Plus.

It seems the long-overdue Siri overhaul will finally arrive at WWDC in just over a week from now, and the digital assistant will embrace AI trickery in all its forms. According to Bloomberg, Apple’s planned upgrades for Siri will deeply integrate with on-device functions at the OS level and with the installed apps, too.

“The new system will allow Siri to take command of all the features within apps for the first time,” the report says. The most notable capability is that Siri will only require voice prompts to interact with apps, thanks to a major change in the AI architecture powering it and putting large language models in command, just the way Gemini or ChatGPT draw their own skills from such models.

Read more
iOS 18 may give Siri the upgrade we’ve been waiting for
Hey Siri

Apple isn’t immune from the AI craze sweeping the rest of the industry. Following the likes of Google with Gemini Nano, Apple is set to roll out AI upgrades to the iPhone with iOS 18. Code-named “Project Graymatter,” the iOS 18 update will bring a variety of AI-powered enhancements to the iPhone and Siri in particular.

According to AppleInsider, the features are being tested in advance of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), and one of the biggest is called “Graymatter Catch Up.” The feature is tied to Siri, Apple’s voice assistant, which will now allow users to request and receive an AI overview of the most recent notifications.

Read more