Apple’s iPhone X pre-orders are now in fill swing and if you have not already placed your order then you are likely looking at a wait stretching into the months, rather than days or weeks.

Generating hype around a big iPhone launch is not something that Apple generally needs to worry about, but when a new video appears on YouTube during which an iPhone X was demonstrated at Apple’s own Cupertino campus, everyone immediately suggested Apple had leaked it itself, kicking the hype train into top gear.

Now, it would appear that the employee partly responsible for the leak has been fired by the company, just a few days after the video appeared online and went viral. The leak came courtesy of YouTube vlogger Brooke Peterson who apparently is, or was, in the enviable position having her father be an Apple employee with an iPhone X in his pocket.

What followed was a video filmed at Caffè Macs on Apple’s Cupertino HQ during which Peterson ran through the iPhone X’s capabilities on-camera, causing quite the stir online in the process. When the video went viral, the general belief amongst many was that this leak was seeded by Apple in order to generate some hype for the iPhone X, but now it would appear that Peterson’s father is no longer an Apple employee, presumably as a result of this video – the original video is no longer up on YouTube, predictably enough.

In a new video posted to YouTube, Brooke Peterson has confirmed that following her video going viral, her father has been “let go” by Apple. While many will wonder how someone, working at Apple and in possession of an iPhone X ahead of launch, was naive enough to let this happen. We do too, but this does at least put the theory that the whole thing was a controlled leak by Apple to bed for once and for all.

For those who missed the original video by Brooke which Apple took down after it went viral, here’s the mirror backup version of it:

While it’s unfortunate that someone had to lose a job because of one “innocent” YouTube video, it’s important to note that filming inside Apple’s HQ is prohibited. In one of the frames in the original video, you can even spot some of codenames for Apple products in the Notes app of that engineer’s iPhone X.

What do you guys think? Did Apple make the right call in firing the engineer? Or they were heartless and should have let it go because the device was announced already with many other YouTubers and press already having posted their hands-on videos during Apple’s September 12 event. Sounds off in the comments below.

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