Our German is more than a little rusty (and so is Google’s) but it appears that five devices that are suspected of being either iPhone 5s or knockoffs were confiscated at the Munster-Osnabruck airport on July 21st.
It still isn’t certain if they were real or fake but it is newsworthy that Germans are confiscating iPhones, real or fake, at the Airports since there are so many fake iPhones coming out of China, India and Sears these days. Maybe they were just Samsung Galaxies?
The men in possession of the devices were coming from Turkey.
It appears that the customs officials are working with Apple to determine the origin of the devices.
Benm.at has the story
Here’s another version of the story.
Update: Reader Till translated the important bits, below:
- Macotakara: iPhone 4S and iPad 3 may land in September, public release in October (9to5mac.com)
- Google plans launch of next Nexus phone to coincide with iPhone 5? (9to5mac.com)
- Google plans launch of next Nexus phone to coincide with iPhone 5? (9to5google.com)
- RBC Daily: iPhone 5 could start selling in Russia in November (9to5mac.com)
The customs officers weren’t sure if the smartphones were a rip-off, but a comparison with the so-called “E-Agent” made it seem possible. Of course, the appearance of an iPhone 5 was more spectacular. “We can neither confirm nor deny if it is a real device and consequently industry spying”.
Apple was informed about the found. “We are waiting for a response of the manufacturer that tells us what to do.” Photos of the found won’t be published until then. “It could be industry spying, so you have to handle such picture with special sensibility”, said the spokeswoman.
