How to tell a real iPhone from a fake one

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Proven ways to recognize original Apple devices and not fall for the bait of scammers.

The development of technology gives us not only cooler iPhones, but also a lot of copies, which are sometimes difficult to distinguish from the original. In order not to get into a mess, it is better to buy iPhone only from authorized dealers. It will be more expensive, but safer.

If you still don't want to overpay, you can try your luck and look for better prices from gray sellers. Just for a start, arm yourself with recommendations that will help you not to run into a fake.

There are two ways to tell the difference between a real iPhone and a Chinese copy: an easy one and a harder one. Let's start simple.

Method 1: simple

If a person has ever held a real iPhone in their hands, they will almost certainly be able to distinguish it from a fake.

The life hack is to find such a person or, at worst, go to the company store yourself and take a good look at the iPhone that you are going to buy. Materials, appearance details, software - all of this immediately catches your eye if you know where to look.

Not sure what to look for? No problem! Now we will teach.

Method 2: harder

A person with a trained eye will be able to distinguish a fake, not only without turning on the iPhone, but also without opening the box. There are a few surefire signs that will help you identify a clone right off the bat. Here they are.

Box

Apple has a very reverent attitude towards detail, and it is expressed in everything about the iPhone, from the packaging. This box should be made of thick coated cardboard with even corners and a logo made by embossing. On the bottom there is always a sticker with the model name, serial number, IMEI and storage capacity. But the main thing is, of course, the contents of the box.

Accessories and equipment

Each iPhone comes with a charging cable, headphones, USB adapter, as well as an envelope with documentation, stickers and a paper clip to remove the SIM card tray. All accessories should be carefully wound and packed in transparent films. Original cables, unlike fakes, are much softer, and the plastic on their connectors is impeccably smooth and has no burrs or sagging. Of course, everything should be laid out in its place in perfect order.

IPhone appearance

The smartphone itself should give the impression of a high-quality thing: the weight is felt, the metal pleasantly cools the hand. All modern iPhones are made of aluminum, but in fakes the case material can be any, up to painted plastic.

On a real iPhone, the parts fit tightly together and have minimal gaps. The buttons and the silent mode switch should clearly respond to pressing and have no backlash. There is an IMEI on the back cover of the smartphone, which matches the numbers on the box and the SIM card tray.

Assembled in China, on the other hand, is not to be feared. It is perfectly legal, because iPhones are only developed in the United States and manufactured and assembled in China.

An outright fake with giblets will give out details that simply cannot be in a real iPhone. These signs include:

• removable back cover and battery;
• support for two or more SIM cards;
• slot for memory cards;
• microUSB connector;
• telescopic antenna.

But even if the fake is of high quality and it is outwardly difficult to distinguish it from the original, all doubts should be dispelled after switching on.

Software and internal stuffing

The days of clumsy translations and hieroglyphs on the menu are long gone. Now the Chinese have learned to imitate the interface and repeat the fonts exactly. What they do not know yet is to fake functions: neither Siri nor Find iPhone in a clone will work, of course.

Also, a fake cannot have a valid serial number that will be verified on the Apple website. Therefore, checking the remaining warranty by the serial number is the easiest method to determine if the iPhone is real or fake.

To check, you need to find the serial number in the system settings (in the section "Basic" → "About this device"), make sure that it is identical to the number on the SIM card tray and the box, and then enter it in the verification form on this page. If the iPhone is genuine, the site will provide model details, warranty balance, and other information. Otherwise, you will see the message "Sorry, this serial number is not correct" or something similar.

Another identification option is the App Store (screenshot on the left). As you can imagine, all clones are running Android, which has its own Google Play app store (screenshot on the right). It is he who will open when you click on the App Store icon in a fake iPhone.

If you are in doubt and cannot understand which store is in front of you, try looking for Apple branded applications like Keynote or GarageBand: of course, they are not and cannot be on Google Play.

Another guaranteed express method for determining the authenticity of an iPhone is syncing with iTunes.

The media combine automatically detects the connected device, showing all information about it, and, as you might guess, it will see through the fake at once. Just take a laptop with iTunes installed to the meeting with the seller and take care of the Internet connection.