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Apple fires engineer: daughter’s viral iPhone X video to blame

Last week a young YouTube vlogger named Brooke Peterson uploaded a video showing off a pre-release iPhone X owned by her father, an Apple engineer. The video soon went viral as millions clamored to get a look at the handset in action, but according to a tearful follow-up video from Brooke herself, the vlogger’s father has since been dismissed by Apple for allowing the footage to go public.

The original video (which has since been removed from YouTube) focused on a trip to Apple’s campus, and a hands-on look at various aspects of the iPhone X. Brooke’s father hands her the device while she’s filming as though it’s no big deal, but surely the two of them must have been aware that Apple keeps a tight lid on this kind of thing before a product’s official release date?

Though fairly innocent in tone, the video breaks a few key Apple rules. Firstly, filming in employee-only areas of the campus is prohibited, and secondly, showing the details of a product before its launch is clearly not allowed. Sure, the iPhone X was unveiled way back in September so there were no big surprises left at this stage, but still.

Finally, it looked as though some more confidential information was inadvertently included in the footage – several employee-only QR codes and some product codenames were shown in the Notes app briefly while Brooke was flicking through apps on the device.

Mr Peterson had been working for Apple for the past four years as an engineer. You think he’d know better that the company appreciates secrecy…

Apple has yet to officially confirm or deny the dismissal, so there’s a slim chance it’s some kind of publicity stunt, but not difficult to believe that a security breach like this could be a sackable offense. If you want to hear the full story from the vlogger herself, check out the video below.

Since then, plenty more hands-on videos have cropped up on YouTube. These are legitimate videos filmed off-campus by people who were chosen by Apple to receive early versions of the handset for promotional purposes, and you can take a look at them here.