At least in America often the top-tier phones will get the best deals. An example is various carriers a few times a year will give you a new iPhone or Galaxy for free or low cost if you trade in an iPhone or Galaxy (often running promos even taking outdated and broken handsets Example Verizon iPhone 15 Pro deal). Very often budget handsets get little to no subsidy and worse trade-in deals. How many people facing the option of trading in a broken phone for a free high end model, or getting enough trade in value to buy a cheaper basic handset, would not choose and iPhone Pro Max.
Just taking a shot in the dark, but the photo in the article suggests it was kept in between pages of a binder. Warm climate, cheap materials, and under pressure makes me feel the disc is just degraded not fake. Regular Vinyl can get easily damaged, I doubt a cheapo mini version would survive decades with absolutely no protection.