Apple Offered A Free iPhone To The Owner Of A Mysterious iPhone 6 Prototype; He Refused And Sold It On Ebay For $11,000

Last month, a so-called iPhone 6 prototype popped up on eBay.

The device featured a red-highlighted charging port, no FCC markings, and a pre-release software that clearly wasn't Apple's iOS 8 software.

Bidding on the device reached more than $99,000 before the listing was mysteriously pulled from eBay. It's not clear why that happened, but the seller - whose name is "Alex," according to Cult of Mac - recently re-listed the iPhone 6, where it sold for $11,100.

In the new listing, Alex explained that Apple reached out about the device, claiming the iPhone 6 in his possession was actually an unfinished iPhone 6 model that "went through the manufacturing process and was never completed," rather than a prototype.

Alex says he initially found the device on his doorstep after renewing his contract with his carrier.

Apple, hoping to convince Alex to part with the unfinished iPhone 6, offered him his pick of any iPhone 6 model in its stores, but Alex refused, choosing instead to re-list the device and telling bidders "to make your own assumptions" as to whether it's truly a prototype.

Considering a maxed-out iPhone 6 Plus costs $949 for an unlocked version, Alex appears to have made the right choice by trying his luck on eBay, where he received $11,100.

So why would anyone be willing to pay $99,000, or even $11,000 for a potential iPhone 6 prototype?

The answer is in the software and the mysterious apps that were found to be running on that particular iPhone 6, which data miners or Apple's competitors could be interested in dissecting for hints of Apple's future plans.

For more photos, or to check out the eBay listing for yourself, click here.