For those of us who were following Apple news in 2010 (God, I feel old), the leak of the iPhone 4 was truly unforgettable. Left behind in a bar by an Apple employee, the prototype fell into the hands of Gizmodo. Did they return it to Steve Jobs? Sure, but not before posting countless photos of it to their website.
16 years later, here we are with what looks like another unprecedented leak. A huge data leak has allegedly exposed files belonging to Indian supplier Tata Electronics, including photos of what is purported to be drop tests for the iPhone 18 Pro.
iPhone 18 Pro drop test from recent data breach at Apple supplier Tata Electronics.Via:@evleaks #Apple #iPhone18Pro https://t.co/9ZSojlOLSr pic.twitter.com/wdZs6dKuQPJune 30, 2026
The grainy photos, which have been doing the rounds on social media and Reddit, reveal an iPhone 18 Pro that looks remarkably similar to the 17 Pro. We still have the huge camera plateau on the back, as well as the glass 'unibody' cutout underneath.
But there are some subtle differences. That cutout appears to be better colour-matched to the device, reducing the unsightly two-tone look of the 17 Pro. But otherwise, the design looks pretty much identical.
"That's a nice looking iPhone 17.01 you got there," one Redditor comments, while another adds, "Is this not just the iPhone 17?" But the colour matching is, at least, a hit. "Thank god for no more two toned nonsense. I might actually pick up silver this time around," another user adds.
An unreleased red iPhone 18 Pro colour has been leaked as part of the TATA leak. Via @earlyappleleaks pic.twitter.com/BM5b6NSqL1June 30, 2026
The shots also appear to confirm that a 'deep red' colour could be coming, with one of the bend-tests appearing to show a red model.
Back in those iPhone 4 days, a leak like this was truly surprising. With each successive iPhone generation featuring a new design, we were seeing something genuinely new. Here, it's business as usual – iPhone updates have been incremental for a long time now. While we can't say for certain whether this leak is genuine, that fact that it depicts such a disappointingly similar design to the 17 Pro is, ironically the thing that makes it believable.
