Fake iphone
Miniature iPhones, handsets that double as shavers and others shaped like packs of cigarettes are just some of the
gray-market devices on sale at Chinese markets.
China is home to a booming, unregulated industry in knock-off mobile phones that is hurting legal handset makers even as it spawns innovation. The low-price handsets have become popular enough to inspire a nickname, “shanzhai,” which translates as “bandit” and includes any phone not licensed for sale by regulatory authorities. Included in the
category are look-alike versions of well-known smartphones like the iPhone and the Nokia N97, sometimes so close in appearance to the original handsets that the two can be hard to distinguish.
But despite their resemblance, the knock-off phones sometimes lack functions found in the original handsets and can come with malware pre-installed or have safety hazards like exploding batteries.
The shanzhai iPhones came with either a standard 3.5-inch screen or a smaller 2.9-inch screen. Applications were displayed in iPhone-style bubble squares, but the phones could be distinguished from real versions partly by the China-specific applications preloaded on them, such as a popular chat client. “iPhone” was misspelled on the back of some of the handsets as well, engraved either as “AIphone” or “iPhne.” Other spelling changes found on knock-off handsets in China include “Nckia” and “Samsang.”
Vendors asked prices from 600 yuan (US$88) to 1,200 yuan for the imitation iPhones, and most made a point of
calling them “China-made” rather than “pirated” or “fake.” Real iPhones at the same stands sold for around 4,000 yuan.
“There’s creativity in the knock-off,” said Karl J. Weaver, China handset business development manager for Newport Technologies. “Some of the shanzhai products actually have better functions and features than the original product itself.”
Top shanzhai phone makers that become legal could potentially become global vendors, he said.
The shanzhai industry is based in Shenzhen, a freewheeling southern city where factories churn out gadgets for companies including Apple. The presence of established handset makers makes it easy for merchants to find knock-off suppliers in the city, said a stall owner at the Beijing bazaar surnamed Zhang.
“You can go online or go to Shenzhen yourself,” Zhang said at his Apple device booth. “The people there can design a handset that looks just like an iPhone very quickly.”
“But they all keep close cover,” he said.
