Tips to distinguish an original smartphone from an imitation

According to statistics, one out of every 5 phones is a bad copy made in China. The most counterfeit devices are from brands such as Samsung, Nokia, Microsoft, Sony, iPhone, and in recent times the imitation of the Xiaomi Redmi smartphone has become popular. The most reliable method to protect yourself from taking home a counterfeit item is probably to buy a new device from the manufacturer’s official store. But it is also possible to buy an original pre-owned product, you just need to know some tricks that will help you to differentiate the replica from an original product.

In this post, the awesome.club collected for you elements that are worth paying attention to when buying a used smartphone at any unofficial point of sale — for example, in a little-known Internet store.

1. Quality of translation in the menu🇧🇷 Pay attention to how the menu points are written. Counterfeit phones may have Chinese characters and the screen translation may not be clear or even contain errors such as: “slide to unlock”.

2. IMEI. There is an option to verify the authenticity of a smartphone through your IMEI. This is not the most reliable method, since when checking the identifier it is not possible to be sure that you have an original device in front of you. This is because there is no verification of the device itself, but of the IMEI, which could have been copied from an original phone. To perform the IMEI check, enter the option to make a call and type *#06#.

3. External appearance. Before buying a used phone, visit the manufacturer’s official store, hold the original phone in your hands, pay attention to the position of the camera and the material used, among other details. The outside of the fake device, in general, looks different: instead of a metal cover, plastic could have been used. In addition, it may also have “extra” elements that are not in the original device, such as an antenna.

4. On iPhone, take a look at the App Store app. Smartphones that imitate Apple use themes with a similar style, developed in Android or Java, instead of the original iOS operating system. When entering the App Store, for example, Google Play or some imitation opens, with a seal of a “padlock” in the Java developer. Such apps may even contain a different language than the region you are in.

5. Service code for Samsung devices. You can try to enter a special service code: click on the “phone” icon and enter *#7353#. A menu should appear in which you can check the functionality of some functions. This code did not originally exist in the Android operating system, but Samsung developers added it to the system, and the probability that it will work on a counterfeit device is zero.

6. Buy an iPhone with your computer where you have the iTunes app installed — if possible, of course. This app is only capable of interacting with an original iPhone. Connect the phone to the computer with the help of the USB cable and if iTunes fails to detect the connected device then surely you have a fake device in your hands.

All of the above methods may not work for some reason or another, as with the advancement in technology, differentiating modern imitations from the originals can be very difficult. We cannot say that necessarily all fake devices have writing errors, an inaccurate translation of the menu or at least slightly differ from the original. The casing, components, and other internal features can be difficult to tell apart if you’ve never seen an original phone before or aren’t very attentive to noticing small details in new devices.

But there are other methods that can help you.

Check the characteristics in a special application. Install an application on the device to verify the veracity of your production: AnTuTu Officer. A simple parsing may not help, as scammers, like standard resource identifiers, have learned to prescribe the name of any desired details: processor, camera, RAM, and so on.

The instructions for this app are as follows:

1. Meet with your smartphone vendor in a place that works the phone and has an Internet connection.

2. If this is not possible, activate the option to share Wi-Fi on your smartphone and connect the seller’s phone to the network.

3. With this link, download the app, install it and run it on the smartphone you want to buy.

4. Open the following email address on your smartphone: y.antutu.com and find the QR code.

5. Press “Start” on the app on the seller’s phone and scan the QR code.

Transfer the data from the smartphone you want to purchase to AnTuTu and the other phone will show you the results whether it is a fake or an original phone. If a green circle with the inscription “Good” (good) on the screen, it is the correct model and an original device. If a yellow circle appears, it means that there is not much information about the device. This means that you have third-party firmware installed or that it is a new model. If a red circle appears on the screen, then without a doubt, you have a counterfeit device in your hands.

The special application Xiaomi Anti-Fake works on the same principle as AnTuTu Officer: it must be installed on the supplier’s device and its barcode must be scanned. The app will show a green circle if the phone is genuine, or red if it’s fake🇧🇷

Do you know other methods to recognize a smartphone fake on a purchase? What other details are worth paying attention to?