If you ever dreamed of landing a job with Apple in Cupertino and getting to work on the next generation iPhones and iPads - don't get your hopes up too high.

And that's because, even if you get a job at 1 Infinite Loop, chances are that you're going to be working on more of an iPhoney than an iPhone 5, 6 or 7.

In Adam Lashinsky's new book - Inside Apple - the Fortune writer and Fox commentator claims that once you make it through the tough interview process of the world's largest tech company, you still have to prove your loyalty. And this, he claims, often involves working on things that don't actually exist.

Speaking about his claims at a conference at LinkedIn's HQ Lashinsky stated: "People are hired into dummy positions where they are not really sure what it is they're doing. Even though you've been through this rigorous process they still don't know if you can be trusted."

A former Apple employee at the session backed up the claims saying: "A friend of mine who's a senior engineer at Apple, he works on, or did work on, fake products - I'm sure - for the first part of his career, and was interviewed for nine months. It's intense."

So the next time you find what looks like a new iPhone in a bar in California be aware that it's probably not the real-deal. Still, it would likely fetch a pretty price on eBay.....