The more trade and sales migrate to online, the more of a risk of getting fake phones. It has become a very lucrative business for deceitful phone manufacturers. Fake phones used to be SUPER obvious, but the market is getting much smarter as time goes on. Here’s a few tips to look for when determining if your iPhone is genuine or fake.

 

Let’s begin with the external features. This is where the knock off iPhones are VERY similar to the un-trained eye.

 

PACKAGING/BUILD

The packaging is one of the first features that can make the situation a bit fishy. The outside might look exactly like the original packaging; however, it’s usually made of a bit cheaper material. Sometimes when opening these boxes, the phone is in a plastic wrap, rather than its distinct pull off tabs. There may also be product instructions with giant foreign characters. The genuine boxes also tend to have information such as the model, description of the phone, the country name where it is manufactured, serial number and a bar code that ensures this is a genuine product. A knock off box won’t include these extra details about your iPhone. When you take the phone out, you should also notice a distinct weight difference.

 

THE APPLE LOGO

Once you get the phone unwrapped, just flip it over and look at the logo on the back of the iPhone. Although this can look IDENTICAL to the real one, there are usually slight, small errors that distinguish a fake. Many of these fakes may have a slightly recessed logo and/or a mirror finish.

 

CHARGING PORT

Next we can look at the bottom of the phone, which will give away a few different factors to determine the validity of this device. Generally, the fake iPhones will have a plastic border around it or just simply and engraved line around the port to simulate the same build as the original product.

 

PENTA LOBE SCREWS

Next to the charging port you can see some of the common screws used in all the iPhone products. These are called Penta lobe screws, simply meaning they have 5 screw head points. The fake iPhones have normal cross screws which can be a dead giveaway if you pay attention to such a small element.

 

CAMERA BODY

Next you can look at the camera build from the back. This is not from within the app itself but just the camera alone. Usually in the fake iPhones, recedes a bit, giving the camera less height than that of the original iPhone.

 

 

 

Now let’s turn on the iPhone. Here are where things get seemingly weird.

 

 

 

 

WELCOME LOGO

The welcome logo is the first thing that you see when you turn on an iPhone. This is not something you experience usually on fake phones. Usually you get a screen with the word “Welcome” rather than the original Apple logo. This is a complete dead giveaway of a fake device.

 

IMEI/MODEL NUMBER

When you go into the settings, you can see the IMEI and the Model # of a device through its about section. If these numbers don’t match the back of the phone and/or the box it came in, then it clearly is a knock off attempt at an iPhone.

 

CAMERA APP

Now we’ll get into the camera within the app itself. Knockoffs NEVER have the top of the line camera in them so you will notice a distinct difference in the quality. Remember how cameras looks back in the mid 2000s? That’s pretty much what you will get. It’s like the quality went back to standard definition. Unless you’re so outdated with smartphones, there is no way you wouldn’t notice the quality difference when using either the selfie camera or the rear facing camera.

 

iTUNES AND APPLE STORE

Here is the biggest difference between real and fake. Most fake iPhones are running off Android because they can adjust the interface’s skin. Android devices DO NOT have an iTunes or Apple store. If you click these, it will redirect to another app and/or go to a google play store. If these apps do anything besides open the expected apple stores, then it is fake software and a knock off phone.

 

SCREEN BRIGHTNESS

Generally, the first thing you’ll notice is that the screen is not as vibrant as it should be in the fake iPhones. Colors look washed out and overall you think your brightness setting is turned all the way down.

 

 

 

 

Want to see what one of these fakes look like hands on? Well the talented YouTube channel Unbox Therapy has done an interesting review comparing a REAL iPhone 6S and its fake rival.

 

 

 

 

 

Let us know if you’ve spotted any fake iPhones and be careful when buying or trading online with these distinct feature differences!

 

This problem does not apply to just iPhones so be careful when buying any new smart phone! If you would like to see a breakdown of counterfeit Android devices, please leave feedback and we’d be happy to spread the awareness.

 

Here at It’sWorthMore we make sure all our products are straight from the manufacturers and trusted companies. You will not be dealing with fake or knock off phones, even though we get plenty of them sent in. So don’t think twice when attempting to sell your iPhone or buy a new smartphone from us!