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boss.king

macrumors 603
Apr 8, 2009
6,386
7,634
I'm late to the thread but yeah, this is super fake. The slide content outside of the imagery is written like what a layman or student thinks marketing slides should sound like. Why would they add hieroglyphic icons to extremely basic core values? Why are they critiquing tone on internal documents (especially for mundane terms like "break down"? And why is a Descartes principle being attributed to Einstein in the notes?

The project name simply being the product name is very un-Apple too. What good is a project codename if it's the name of the final product?

If this ends up being real, I'll print off a copy and eat it.
 

Unregistered 4U

macrumors G4
Jul 22, 2002
10,598
8,603
View attachment 2255507
I can't lie this looks Apples doing to me. As time goes by im starting to see them being behind this type of marketing. Their event is coming up as well.
Posted 4 hours ago by a user that has only made 1 post :) Plenty of time to photoshop from last Friday, too!

UPDATE:
Oh, wait, they have comments they’ve made, too. On replies to the post. :D
 

mectojic

macrumors 65816
Dec 27, 2020
1,330
2,521
Sydney, Australia
Posted 4 hours ago by a user that has only made 1 post :) Plenty of time to photoshop from last Friday, too!

UPDATE:
Oh, wait, they have comments they’ve made, too. On replies to the post. :D
That does seem strange to me too. I wondered if that Reddit account is the OP. If so, then we're looking at serious trolling here.

The other question is, was the photo from Reddit photoshopped? Possibly. I couldn't quite tell from the pixelation. I actually wondered if the black blur around the text is because the billboard is digital?

It's also a lot of work to photoshop that, and the Reddit post doesn't really read as though it were faked, but rather just an coincidental discovery on their commute.
 

NT1440

macrumors Pentium
May 18, 2008
15,091
22,157
I'm late to the thread but yeah, this is super fake. The slide content outside of the imagery is written like what a layman or student thinks marketing slides should sound like. Why would they add hieroglyphic icons to extremely basic core values? Why are they critiquing tone on internal documents (especially for mundane terms like "break down"? And why is a Descartes principle being attributed to Einstein in the notes?

The project name simply being the product name is very un-Apple too. What good is a project codename if it's the name of the final product?

If this ends up being real, I'll print off a copy and eat it.
You phrased my thoughts on this clearly being some type of student project much more clearly than I did.

This seems like a decent idea in terms of a school project for a marketing campaign, including the *rendering* of potential billboards. But like you stated, the errors and tone of “why would you phrase such basic concepts this way internal, at a company that does this” make me think this is clearly a student project, nothing more.
 

boss.king

macrumors 603
Apr 8, 2009
6,386
7,634
That does seem strange to me too. I wondered if that Reddit account is the OP. If so, then we're looking at serious trolling here.

The other question is, was the photo from Reddit photoshopped? Possibly. I couldn't quite tell from the pixelation. I actually wondered if the black blur around the text is because the billboard is digital?

It's also a lot of work to photoshop that, and the Reddit post doesn't really read as though it were faked, but rather just a coincidental discovery on their commute.
I’d say those billboards are very likely photoshopped. It’s really not that difficult, especially for someone with some graphic design experience and even AI image editing tools.

I don’t know the OP so I’m not going to accuse them of putting this out themselves, but it’s entirely possible that the person who created this doc and image just printed off a copy and left it near where an Apple employee could plausibly have a meeting in the hopes of it getting passed onto a tech blog.
 

mectojic

macrumors 65816
Dec 27, 2020
1,330
2,521
Sydney, Australia
I’d say those billboards are very likely photoshopped. It’s really not that difficult, especially for someone with some graphic design experience and even AI image editing tools.

I don’t know the OP so I’m not going to accuse them of putting this out themselves, but it’s entirely possible that the person who created this doc and image just printed off a copy and left it near where an Apple employee could plausibly have a meeting in the hopes of it getting passed onto a tech blog.
The billboard and the design docs look very similar, so they are probably made by the same person. Maybe not the OP, but someone.
The best thing to do would be for someone to actually go to Penn station and see if that billboard is real.
 
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mectojic

macrumors 65816
Dec 27, 2020
1,330
2,521
Sydney, Australia
Ok, I found the billboard: it's at Moynihan Train Hall NYC. You can see that the billboard is digital at about the 0:50 minute mark:

Video is from yesterday, so maybe this new ad wasn't up yet.
 
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Unregistered 4U

macrumors G4
Jul 22, 2002
10,598
8,603
Ok, I found the billboard: it's at Moynihan Train Hall NYC. You can see that the billboard is digital at about the 0:50 minute mark:

Video is from yesterday, so maybe this new ad wasn't up yet.
Ah, digital billboard… Have to say, if I was going to fake an image, I’d make sure it was of a digital billboard. :) If no one can find the image, that’s ok, it probably just didn’t show when they were walking by. It’s there though, for reals!

Doesn’t look like anyone in the reddit thread is taking the bait, though. Perhaps they’ll create more posts in different subreddits? ;)
 
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mectojic

macrumors 65816
Dec 27, 2020
1,330
2,521
Sydney, Australia
Doesn’t look like anyone in the reddit thread is taking the bait, though. Perhaps they’ll create more posts in different subreddits? ;)
If it's the same person posting in another thread, then it's not evidence. If it's someone else, preferably someone who didn't create their account 3 days ago, I'd be more convinced. And it should be a different photo, from a different angle.
 
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primarycolors

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 17, 2015
328
527
CA
I don’t know the OP so I’m not going to accuse them of putting this out themselves
I appreciate that 😅 I can also affirm I didn't post the billboard on Reddit — I've never been to Penn Station (I'm from CA lol).

Personally I don't think the billboard photo is photoshopped. The "glow" around the text looks like typical iOS over-sharpening and/or JPG compression. Maybe someone on here lives nearby and can verify the ads are really there.

To be honest I'd accepted a few days ago the slideshow was probably a student project but jeez the plot has thickened. At this point I just want to know what's happening and what the product is 😅
 
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mectojic

macrumors 65816
Dec 27, 2020
1,330
2,521
Sydney, Australia
Personally I don't think the billboard photo is photoshopped. The "glow" around the text looks like typical iOS over-sharpening and/or JPG compression. Maybe someone on here lives nearby and can verify the ads are really there.
Nice to hear it wasn't you.
I don't know why everyone jumps to things being "photoshopped". I tried posting this information on Reddit /iPhone and my post got deleted by a mod. Ok fine, it's their sub and I hate Reddit anyway lol.

I think the simplest explanation is always the best – and that is that someone got out their phone and took a photo of a billboard. Not some extreme diehard photoshopping evidence and dropping into Cupertino to leave behind some papers, in the small chance someone like you would "leak" them to the public.

I'm still unsure if it's Apple or not. Someone said it might be a Tesla phone, idk maybe. It's amazing how much research you actually have to do to check every company and supply chain to verify rumours.

Even still, I do think Apple is the most likely, for the reasons I've outlined. They are really going pro-repair these past few months. And with the iPhone 14, no leaker, literally no one, discovered that it had a more repairable design until they had literally done the teardowns. So I wouldn't be surprised if Apple was able to keep this top-secret.
 

hg.wells

macrumors 65816
Apr 1, 2013
1,066
789
A couple of points which suggest this isn’t Apple. If you do a google image search for Apple iPhone billboard, they all include Apple logos and will say iPhone not phone.

Then the actual billboard design looks a little lazy, it’s just a flip of the original imagine with different text on it. Apple’s advertising will normally show the front and back of the device.
 

Unregistered 4U

macrumors G4
Jul 22, 2002
10,598
8,603
Which is extremely unlikely for Apple. Why would they waste money on pre-launch marketing?

If it was really Apple, it would have had the date of the keynote.
Yeah, their post-launch marketing, sure. Pre-launch, they already know every eye in the tech world is pointed in their direction and waiting for the video. Even those that cannot stand any and all things Apple know what’s happening next Tuesday!
 
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firsttube

macrumors regular
Apr 14, 2004
211
36
So the plot thickens, friend of mine in NYC just sent me this asking if the new phone was out. She doesn't really follow tech very closely, but figured I'd share this here since y'all are already talking about whatever this is supposed to be.

It's not really different than that one train station one, but it's something. Has a pic of this already been posted? I haven't read the whole thread, just jumped in when I saw earlier. Ngl, I'm nerding out a little haha
 

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