Recently, a 15-year-old second-year junior high school student from Suzhou, Jiangsu, named Jin, recounted her experience. In September 2025, with her parents' approval, she splurged 8,684 yuan on an iPhone 16 Pro Max through an online purchase. However, after using the phone for nearly half a year, she was taken aback to find that the activation purchase date on the device was listed as April 1, 1978. Seeking answers, Jin took the phone to an Apple offline store for testing. There, the staff informed her that the phone might well be a second-hand device, and considering its condition, the purchase price she had paid was quite steep. The merchant later came clean, admitting that the phone was a "resource machine" rather than a brand-new, authentic product. They also made it clear that a refund was out of the question, though they offered to repurchase the phone. Apple's official customer service, when contacted, clarified that the device was actually a "sample machine." Although genuine, such machines were not eligible for official warranty services. Apple staff further explained that the purchase time for non-brand-new devices is uniformly set as April 1, 1978, as a standard practice to differentiate between brand-new and sample machines and to prevent unauthorized sales.