iPhone 12 Pro Max purchase on official website delivered an apple-flavored drink instead — Apple is investigating

iPhone 12 Pro Max back showing cameras and multi-function button
(Image credit: Laptop Mag)

The iPhone 12 won China's heart in Q4 of 2020 — Apple raked in its highest revenue ever in the region thanks to a record number of iPhone upgrades. The Cupertino-based tech giant collected $21.31 billion in revenue, which is up 57% from last year.

A woman from China wanted to partake in the iPhone 12 mania and reportedly purchased an iPhone 12 Pro Max from Apple's official website, setting her back $1,500. However, when her package arrived, the woman discovered that her iPhone 12 Pro Max was missing — and she received an apple-flavored drink instead (via Apple Insider).

Apple is reportedly investigating apple-drink swap

A video uploaded to Weibo (China's leading microblogging platform) on Friday featured a woman named Liu explaining that she purchased an iPhone 12 Pro Max on Apple's official website on Feb. 16 for 10,099 Yuan, which is more than $1,500.

iPhone 12 Pro Max

iPhone 12 Pro Max swapped for apple-flavored drink (Image credit: Weibo)

To Liu's surprise, when she received the package on Feb. 18, instead of finding the top-of-the-line iPhone 12 smartphone, she found "apple-flavored sour milk" (according to Google's Chinese-to-English translation of the Weibo post) in its place.

Liu claims that there were no obvious signs that her parcel was tampered with before opening the package. Local police are unsure whether the swap occurred at the hands of EMS, the postal service that delivered the package to Liu, or Apple. Still, according to the Weibo post, Apple is cooperating with the investigation to determine the culprit behind Liu's missing iPhone 12 Pro Max debacle.

Laptop Mag has reached out to Apple for additional comment and will update this story once we receive a response.

Kimberly Gedeon

Kimberly Gedeon, holding a Master's degree in International Journalism, launched her career as a journalist for MadameNoire's business beat in 2013. She loved translating stuffy stories about the economy, personal finance and investing into digestible, easy-to-understand, entertaining stories for young women of color. During her time on the business beat, she discovered her passion for tech as she dove into articles about tech entrepreneurship, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the latest tablets. After eight years of freelancing, dabbling in a myriad of beats, she's finally found a home at Laptop Mag that accepts her as the crypto-addicted, virtual reality-loving, investing-focused, tech-fascinated nerd she is. Woot!