If you've been following the major leaks leading up to the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy Z Flip announcements, chances are you've come across Max Weinbach's Twitter account

This 18-year-old tech enthusiast and writer for XDA Developers has managed to scoop up some of the biggest news about Samsung's latest phones, posting photo samples, software shots, and renderings well before the phones hit the market In his Twitter cover photo, he superimposes his face on the screen of a Samsung press conference, accompanied by the words, "This man is our enemy"

In reality, however, Weinbach is just a young freelance writer and student excited about new gadgets He launched his own site, dubbed SamCentral, in 2017 to tease Samsung's big announcement by delving into software teardowns; after making headlines for leaking the Galaxy S9's Intelligent Scan feature, Weinbach was the first to write about the XDA- Developers editor-in-chief Mishaal Rahman caught his attention and began writing for the developer news site in 2018

"I did a teardown of an app, found all the information, and posted it on SamCentral," Weinbach said of his first big scoop

"And Weinbach said about his first big scoop

So how does Weinbach discover so many products and features before they are publicly announced? Many of his scoops come from digging into APKs (Android packages), a file format that may contain information about upcoming devices

"Samsung has specific files in specific places where they put information about devices they are developing I was able to locate all of those places and data mine a lot of information about new products and new features," Weinbach said These sources can tell you anything about a new device

Weinbach has been data-mining Android software for years for hints about new products, and his findings on the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy Z Flip, which now boast 34,000 Twitter followers, have made him a household name in tech media circles He has made a name for himself in the tech media world

Weinbach began acquiring new Samsung models around October of last year, and the number snowballed from there He recalls a recent photo of a Galaxy S20 Plus as his "favorite leak"

"By the end of November, I found basically every camera feature Samsung had announced on the Galaxy S20 and Z Flip, and confirmed support for the 108MP sensor," Weinbach said

One might think that someone like Weinbach would always draw the ire of a large company like Samsung for leaking a product, but that is not the case

"Every time I tweeted or published an article about a device, I expected to get an email or phone call from that company I haven't gotten a single email or phone call," Weinbach said

"The only mention of a leak from a Samsung representative was that a friend of mine said that Samsung called me "the leaker man" or "that guy,"" Weinbach continued 'I don't know why, but this is all very interesting'

With so many major products to delve into before they are announced, it would be easy to assume that Weinbach has grown tired of cell phone announcements But he has another point of view

"I feel like the leak brought more fun to the cell phone launch To actually see a demo when the phone goes on sale, you get something to get excited about before you even get the phone," Weinbach said 'I know it's a different way of looking at it and most PR teams hate me for it, but I just find more fun this way'

So what's next for the man responsible for some of the biggest cell phone leaks of the year? Weinbach doesn't have any major goals and seems to be simply having a good time, continuing to contribute to XDA while completing his studies He is especially excited about getting a Galaxy Z Flip ("regular rectangles don't work for me anymore," he says) and looks forward to doing more of the kind of writing and discovery for which he has become famous

"I have no idea where my career is going, but I just hope it goes in the right direction," Weinbach said