Despite the fact that almost all headphone manufacturers today are actively releasing TWS models, playing on their popularity with consumers, no one has yet managed to achieve the same success that AirPods have achieved. Obviously, even Huawei, even Vivo, even Xiaomi, it will be difficult to surpass the original, even if they manage to make headphones that are more advanced in terms of sound quality and convenience. But popularity isn’t everything. As it turned out, there is an option to leave not due to unique developments, but due to the ability to fake these very developments. As a result real AirPods really started to lose all meaning.
You probably know that Aliexpress sells a bunch of fake AirPods all models in which it is visually almost impossible to recognize a fake, unless the seller himself writes about it. If earlier Chinese copies were synonymous with terrible quality, today, as they say, not everything is so simple.
Fake AirPods Pro – what they can do
Modern Chinese have long been sharpened to make good technology. As a result, they even fake airpods began to turn out no worse than Apple, and in some cases even better. The photo above shows a fake and an original, which by their example prove that this Cupertino solution looks like a fake due to the large gaps between the elements of the charging case, and not vice versa.
But the Chinese competently fake not only the outside, but also the inside. Just look what you are capable of fake AirPods Prowhich on Aliexpress cost less than 2000 rubles:
- Synchronization with iCloud;
- Quick connection to iPhone when opening the cover of the case;
- Skin contact detection and pause when removed from ear
- Animated support for connecting to the iPhone;
- Calculation of the remaining battery life for each earphone and case separately;
- Remote distribution of firmware updates;
- Support for active noise reduction;
- Support for the “Transparency” mode.
Buy a copy of AirPods Pro
These AirPods sound, of course, frankly worse than the original. But first of all, this is due to the price of headphones, which is determined by the goals of the Chinese who produce them. They simply do not have the task of making a top-end device for listening to music. Instead, they release headphones that are visually and functionally indistinguishable from the original, but no one except the owner will know about the internal differences anyway. But the owner is already aware that he has a fake in his hands.
Is it possible to identify fake AirPods
Whatever it was, Apple was clearly scared of how actively the fake AirPods market is developing. After all, if the iPhone has ceased to understand where the fake headphones are and where the original ones are, this is a serious wake-up call and a reason to start correcting the situation. Therefore, in iOS 16, in addition to the traditional ways to check AirPods for originality, a system mechanism has appeared that recognizes fakes. But he did not work long, because the Chinese were able to bypass him.
This was proved by the author of the YouTube channel Phone Repair Guru. A few weeks ago he received Chinese AirPods Pro 2 and tried to connect them to the iPhone. He succeeded, but the smartphone insisted that these were fake headphones. In principle, such an outcome was expected, so the blogger left the fake until better times. But just the other day they received an update in which the definition of non-original headphones was eliminated.
Failed to check AirPods
According to the YouTuber, an over-the-air update arrived on the headphones, which was installed as Regular AirPods. But the main thing here is far from being that the “pods” have been updated in principle, but that after installation new iPhone firmware stopped recognizing them as fake. Instead of notifying the user about the impossibility of confirming the originality of the product, the iPhone connected to them properly and did not even raise an eyebrow.
Despite the fact that for a number of parameters fake airpods inferior to the original, I have no doubt that you can find a complete or almost complete copy on sale, which will even sound the same as real Apple headphones. True, and they will most likely cost more. About 6-7 thousand. And for this money, a fake is unlikely to be bought as actively as twice or three times cheaper. Therefore, this is not the most popular segment. fake AirPods.
Copy AirPods 1 in 1
But even if we take as a standard headphones, which showed Phone Repair Guru – with all their shortcomings in the form of a missing wireless charger and a dangling case cover – this is still an example of amazing work. Despite the fact that the Chinese did not invent anything of their own, they managed to bypass all the protection mechanisms of Apple and make fake AirPods just like the original, tricking the iPhone into accepting them as native ones.
I have no doubt that over time, the market for fake AirPods will only grow, and, oddly enough, Apple itself is to blame for this. After all, not everyone is chasing high-quality sound. For most, the status that gives them wearing expensive headphones is important. And it was in Cupertino that they formed such an image for their products. So do not be surprised that someone takes a fake in order to deceive others and pass off a fake as an original.