Beware of fake iPhone accessories!

Yikes! Don’t be fooled by iPhone copycats! For instance, a fake iPhone Stereo Headset shipped from the Philippines (bought from a New Jersey based eBay seller) looks almost the same as the original until they became defective and unreliable after a week as reported by Leander Kahney of CultofMac.com.

Advertised as genuine Apple iPhone Stereo Headsets, I bought two pairs last month on eBay because they were half the price of Apple’s. Surplus or something, I thought. The eBay seller says they are based in New Jersey, but the earbuds were sent from the Philippines. Free shipping.

At first I thought they were genuine. The packaging is perfect. The box has all the Apple branding, and the same plastic tab Apple uses to hang the boxes from hooks in its stores. Inside, there’s the same white plastic pouch and a warranty pamphlet that’s an exact facsimile of Apple’s.

The counterfeit earbuds have the same packaging as genuine Apple earbuds.

That stuff is easy. Much harder is getting the nearly the same build quality as the genuine product.

The knockoffs are as almost good as the originals, except in small details. They sound as good (and Apple’s headsets have remarkably good sound), and the cords are made from a similar, medium-duty, tangle-resistant rubber.

The microphone, which doubles as a remote, works exactly the same. It answers calls, pauses and restarts songs, and skips to the next song if you double-click it — just like the genuine article.
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The original iPhone Stereo Headset from Apple costs $30. The fake one was bought at $14. Oh well… with the high price of original Apple iPhone items, expect a lot of copycats to surface somehow, trying to get a share of the market. Just be aware when you see ridiculously cheap and low-priced Apple iPhone accessories being marketed especially at online retail stores.