As Samsung prepares to launch its upcoming Galaxy S9/S9+, there’s already a knock-off version spotted in the wild. In terms of design, it looks quite similar to the leaked renders and the gullible ones might be fooled into believing that this is the real deal.
In a nutshell, lawsuits between tech giants are not uncommon and Apple isn’t a first-timer in the ring. They’ve butt heads with Samsung before, in a long-drawn-out battle of ping pong, each taking turns to sue each other. When the first leaks of the HTC One A9 came around, we too thought it was an iPhone clone but lets take a look closer at how Apple “innovates”; methods that haven’t settled well with their Taiwanese counterparts, causing one of HTC’s regional chiefs to share his two cents on the subject.
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There’s no limit to what the Chinese can do. In less than a month since its announcement, imitation units of the Xiaomi Mi Note is now available in the Chinese market. While it looks like the real deal, they are actually nothing but cheap fakes.
The front still gets a similar sized 5.7″ display but underneath it runs on an unspecified Quad-Core processor with just 1GB of RAM, instead of 3GB on the standard Mi Note. Side by side, the clone unit is noticably thicker and the back is made out of cheap plastic instead of a more expensive 3D gorilla glass. The biggest difference is in the performance where it scores a lower 18,000 points instead of 46,600 points on Antutu.
If someone approaches you with a cheap offer that’s too good to be true, then it probably is. We recommend buying your device only from authorised dealers and reputable sources. A while back, a guy in Malaysia was sold a fake Redmi Note which performed very badly compared to the original. Even OPPO is having a similar problem as they have highlighted a significant number of counterfeit cases in Malaysia.
Check out more photos of the original versus the fake Mi Note after the break.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 will be announced at their upcoming Samsung Unpacked event in Berlin. For some enterprising people in China, a new flagship phone means new business in the replica market. Replica maker GooPhone has started its engines with its GooPhone N4, a cheap knock off of Samsung’s next big thing.
At the moment, they only provided a single photo of the product which resembles the current leaked shots of the Galaxy Note 4. Underneath, you won’t find any Exynos processor but instead it gets an Octa-Core 1.7GHz MTK6592 processor with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. The screen retains the same 5.7″ size that pushes Full HD 1920×1080 resolution instead of its purported Quad HD screen on the real deal. There’s no point going through the rest of the spec list as they are pretty much watered down with 5 finger multi-touch support and a 13MP camera that only does HD 720p resolution.
If you want to get your hands on one, you’ll need to wait as pre-orders would only start on 15th September. Probably the folks at GooPhone would need some time to make the necessary design changes to match the real Galaxy Note 4. When the Galaxy S5 was announced, it took them less than 24 hours to announce their knock-off version on their site.
If you don’t like Android, no worries. They even have a fake iPhone 6 that’s available in Black, Silver and Gold.
If you think only premium smart phones are worth faking, think again. The popular Redmi Note apparently has a replica of its own and it looks like the actual unit from the outside.
Someone had purchased a unit from a seller on Mudah which claims to be an original unit. After using it for a while, he noticed something very strange and had discovered that he had been ripped off. Obviously not happy of being cheated, he had uploaded a video highlighting the key differences between a genuine Redmi Note versus the fake imitation copy to serve as warning to others.
Head after the break to find out how to check if a Redmi Note is fake.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 is available nationwide across telcos and dealers for RM2,399 outright. If you’re looking for cheaper alternatives, do beware of fakes. Imitation Galaxy S5 units have been spotted in Thailand and it looks just like the real thing. The back is very identical which even includes a heart rate sensor below the camera lens.
To cater for different budgets, it is available in 2 variants. The ultimate Grade 1 carbon copy of Galaxy S5 can be yours for just 3,300 Thai Baht (About RM330) after negotiation, while its lower Grade 2 version is offered at 2,800 Thai Baht (about RM280). With the Samsung branding stamped all over, it is hard to tell if it came from GooPhone, a Chinese maker which announced its plans of producing replica Galaxy S5 immediately after it was officially revealed.
The copycats have left nothing to spare and even the box looks like the original unit. The biggest give away is at back of the box where the specs are riddled with typos and obvious mistakes like “LTE Gate” and “OHO Display”. With device is switched on, the interface and wallpaper looks and feels like an actual Galaxy S5 with TouchWiz UI. However when you dig deeper, you’ll notice some design inconsistencies especially in the Settings section. Although the camera is written as 16MP, the picture quality is reported to be horrible which is expected for a cheap replica.
Since it is available in Thailand, don’t be surprise to see such devices appearing in our own backyard. If you see incredibly cheap offers for Galaxy S5, that should ring some alarm bells. Remember if it is too good to be true, it probably is. Thanks Shen for the images from Bangkok!
You can view more photos of the fake Galaxy S5 after the break.