I bought a pair AirPods Max which turned out to be fake.
March 28, 2024 5:00 AM
And my iPhone got fooled and thinks they're real!
I bought them from someone via Milanuncios (a popular online second-hand market in Spain) and got them in the mail yesterday. Upon trying them for the first time, they paired up with my phone and showed up as "AirPods Max" but something was obviously off. The dead giveaway was the chintzy plastic button on the right ear cup, which pops in and out with a loud tinny click, more reminiscent of an old toy from the 80's than of Apple's engineering. Needless to say, sound quality is pretty low, but I must say this fake is relatively convincing. Anyone who's never used the real deal might quite possibly be fooled by this thing. It even appears to have some kind of rudimentary noise cancelling and ear detection capabilities. Anyway, the weirdest part is that my iPhone itself seems to have been fooled. Not only does it show these headphones as AirPods Max, it even sees and displays their serial number, which is also verifiable on https://checkcoverage.apple.com. They appear as being under limited warranty until 2024-06-05. This serial number even matches the one printed on the sticker on the outside of the box. (I could theoretically take these to an Apple Genius somewhere, but I would definitely get laughed out of the store.) How is it that these fakes are able to bypass Apple's guardrails? I'm contesting this purchase with the website, of course, and the fact that the serial number checks out might make it harder for me to prove my case. Any knowledge would be appreciated. Stay safe out there!
I bought them from someone via Milanuncios (a popular online second-hand market in Spain) and got them in the mail yesterday. Upon trying them for the first time, they paired up with my phone and showed up as "AirPods Max" but something was obviously off. The dead giveaway was the chintzy plastic button on the right ear cup, which pops in and out with a loud tinny click, more reminiscent of an old toy from the 80's than of Apple's engineering. Needless to say, sound quality is pretty low, but I must say this fake is relatively convincing. Anyone who's never used the real deal might quite possibly be fooled by this thing. It even appears to have some kind of rudimentary noise cancelling and ear detection capabilities. Anyway, the weirdest part is that my iPhone itself seems to have been fooled. Not only does it show these headphones as AirPods Max, it even sees and displays their serial number, which is also verifiable on https://checkcoverage.apple.com. They appear as being under limited warranty until 2024-06-05. This serial number even matches the one printed on the sticker on the outside of the box. (I could theoretically take these to an Apple Genius somewhere, but I would definitely get laughed out of the store.) How is it that these fakes are able to bypass Apple's guardrails? I'm contesting this purchase with the website, of course, and the fact that the serial number checks out might make it harder for me to prove my case. Any knowledge would be appreciated. Stay safe out there!
I have no idea how it actually works, but I think it's utterly common for counterfeit Apple Products to fool iOS and work basically indistinguishable from the real things.
A friend of mine (I swear) has ordered several pairs of AirPod Pros from Alibaba/DHGate for his kids. They don't care or notice the difference in sound quality and just want to look cool. He showed how they link up to a phone: the "airpod" graphic pops up and shows the state of charge, they connect automatically when you stick them in your ears, the control center volume slider shows them as airpods and lets you toggle between modes, and all of that. They charge wirelessly and as I looked at them I could tell no difference.
The main takeaway for me was that ANY used apple peripherals are automatically suspect unless you have a clear provenance and know your seller.
posted by AgentRocket at 9:33 AM on March 28
A friend of mine (I swear) has ordered several pairs of AirPod Pros from Alibaba/DHGate for his kids. They don't care or notice the difference in sound quality and just want to look cool. He showed how they link up to a phone: the "airpod" graphic pops up and shows the state of charge, they connect automatically when you stick them in your ears, the control center volume slider shows them as airpods and lets you toggle between modes, and all of that. They charge wirelessly and as I looked at them I could tell no difference.
The main takeaway for me was that ANY used apple peripherals are automatically suspect unless you have a clear provenance and know your seller.
posted by AgentRocket at 9:33 AM on March 28
Turns out none of this matters since Milanuncios' terms of service say there will be no returns in the case of non-original products. Looks like I'm out of luck
posted by Silky Slim at 11:40 PM on March 29
posted by Silky Slim at 11:40 PM on March 29
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Further, companies that make bluetooth items decide the name that is sent to the phone. They can call it anything they like and obviously they're going to use the real product name.
When I was trying to buy a used iPhone, I found many, many fakes with legit serial numbers. However, I never found a single one that had both a real serial number and a the correct part number / model number. However, iPhones have different part / model numbers depending on where they're meant to be sold (Japan / Canada / US / China, etc) a well as the color and capacity.
I would suspect that the Airpods Max probably only have one part number and it will be based on the color as models are probably the same worldwide (there's no capacity and no function difference). I'd be curious if the ones you bought have the correct part number based on their color as I suspect the counterfeiter would use one part number across all boxes to save money and most people don't know to look at the part number.
posted by dobbs at 7:08 AM on March 28