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 1.  
 2. Big tech

FCC accidentally leaked iPhone schematics, potentially giving rivals
a peek at company secrets

The agency hasn't commented on the disclosure.

[dims]
Lawrence Bonk
Contributing Reporter
Lawrence BonkContributing Reporter
Mon, September 29, 2025 at 3:45 PM UTC
1 min read
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Brian Oh for Engadget

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [INS:recently published a
163-page PDF:INS] showing the electrical schematics for the iPhone
16e, despite Apple specifically requesting them to be confidential.
This was most likely a mistake on the part of the FCC, [INS:according
to a report by :INS][INS:AppleInsider:INS].

The agency also distributed a cover letter from Apple alongside the
schematics, which is dated September 16, 2024. This letter verifies
the company's request for privacy, indicating that the documents
contain "confidential and proprietary trade secrets." The cover
letter asks for the documents to be withheld from public view
"indefinitely." Apple even suggested that a release of the files
could give competitors an "unfair advantage."

To that end, the documents feature full schematics of the iPhone 16e.
These include block diagrams, electrical schematic diagrams, antenna
locations and more. Competitors could simply buy a handset and open
it up to get to this information, as the [INS:iPhone 16e came out
back in February:INS], but this leak would eliminate any guesswork.
However, Apple is an extremely litigious company when it comes to
[INS:stuff like patent infringement:INS].

The FCC hasn't addressed how this leak happened or what it intends to
do about it. AppleInsider's reporting suggested that this probably
happened due to an incorrect setting in a database. This was likely
not an intentional act against Apple, which tracks given that the
company has been especially supportive of the Trump administration.
CEO Tim Cook even [INS:brought the president a gold trophy:INS] for
being such a good and important boy.

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