'Leaked' fake-looking HP smartphone is...fake

Earlier this month HP told CNET it was planning to get back into the mobile game with a long-term plan to enter the smartphone market.

Then, this week, we saw some images floating around the Web with captions claiming the photos were leaked shots of HP's new phones. The pictured phone bore an uncanny resemblance to an iPhone running a stock Android OS, with a low-resolution HP logo slapped on the back.

Even more amazing, it only took HP two weeks to turn the notion of getting back into the smartphone market at some point into a new prototype phone.

Or... this particular leak was a hoax. And a pretty crude one at that.

HP was apparently so offended by the notion that this image was being associated with its name that it has put out the word it has nothing to do with this alleged device. In an e-mail to BGR, one of the publications that reported on the leak, HP wrote:

This is a fabrication. This is not an HP phone. HP will expand to additional mobility categories and form factors where we believe we can offer differentiated value to our customers. We will bring smartphones to market but are not giving a timetable.

This isn't to say all such leaks are fake, of course. In fact, lots of details on the top flagship phones of the moment leaked out early and turned out to be true in most cases. I think we're currently seeing that happen again with the upcoming Moto X leaks.

In this case, though, I'm reminded of that old saying about something that seems too good too be true. As you can see above, the same thing can usually be said for something that seems too terrible to be true.