Shanzhai and cloned phones are nothing new in China, but what is new is seeing clones of Chinese brands clones so good you can’t tell them from the real thing until it’s too late!
We’ve seen first hand at just how convincing a knock-off Xiaomi M1S can look, but with the companies continued popularity and current Xiaomi M2 shortages, small Chinese phone makers have turned their hands to producing Xiaomi M2 clones!
Generally we can tell a fake or clone phone from a mile away and it’s usually the low-price and high specs that give the game away, however the problem Xiaomi customers are facing is that real Xiaomi phones are high-spec, low-cost devices. But worst still is the fact that most consumers haven’t seen a real Xiaomi M2 and have nothing to compare a possible fake to!
With growing complaints on Chinese online auction sites such as Taobao, Chinese tech site CnBeta have decided to put together these comparison photos of the real Xiaomi M2 and the fake, as you can see the knock-off could easily be passed off as real!
Starting with the packaging of the Xiaomi M2 clone, it’s near identical to the real thing with no real way to tell it apart from a genuine box.The package is almost the same.
Xiaomi’s use of recycled cardboard makes them unique and keeps costs low, but it also helps clone makers from passing their phones off as the real thing.
Can you tell which is the real Xiaomi M2? No, neither could we from this distance. It’s only when you get up close and personal with the phones you start to see the differences. (FYI the fake Xiaomi M2 is on the left)
As you can see the real Xiaomi phone has much better printing for the logo and also features a star, where as the fake has rough printing and no star. Unfortunately this will hardly help if the person running the printing machine decides to put a little more effort in!
For the rear logo it’s only poor quality which would give the game away and nothing which you would pick up if you just glanced at the logo.
On the inside things are a little easier to spot, but again only if you know what to look for. The fake (on the left) for example is missing the emergency ROM flashing connections (two points either side of the sim). The real phone also features a black plastic sticker and non-standard head screws. It’s also plain to see that the real Xiaomi has a larger camera sensor and better quality rear flash.
This time the real M2 is above and we can see that the volume buttons of the fake are of poor quality and feature bad moulding. Some fakes have even been known to turn up with the rubber under the buttons missing.
These tips are just ways of telling the real from the fake from the external appearance of the phone. There are also ways to tell from teh OS and performance too, which you can check out here.
For those of you hoping to get a real Xiaomi M2, Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun has some informative words on his Weibo for you”
“The only way to buy M2 is from Official Page of XiaoMi.”
Source: Cnbeta
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So if you want to buy from internet you must to ask seller to make some photos?
But if the seller is sending the real Xiaomi photos and the cloned phone?
And it you are trying to prove the sent phone is fake then you will discover how chinese lies even telling you that the sales department made a mistake. Sales department are the sellers left and right hands.
Buy from the respectable sites and trough paypall. Check photos for their exposure on the internet. If the phone you got is not the same as in the photos and fake, then open dispute and get your money back.
one point… i ve 2 mi2 at home and neither features a star next to the “m”. But have to agree. a terrible lot of fake ones around and only good thing is… more accesories in the wake of it
I Think that information is not correct.
In this video:
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNDk3MjU4Njgw.html
we can see that:
http://www.djherod.com/xiaomi/xiaomi-m2-1.jpg
this Xiaomi M2 has the screw near the SIM and doesn’t has the 2 pins inside the sim slot.
Ok, it could be a Fake.
I live in China too and I never have seen a Xiaomi with a Star near the logo.
There is another video in youku, this:
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNDc2NDAwMjc2.html
where they show both version, with or without star, but I don’t read Chinese or I speak Chinese, could help me to translate it?
Is it possible that exists two version of Xiaomi Mi2?
Thanks
H2K
The one with the Star is the pre-sale version, you could buy it before the official release, now they don’t have those stars anymore.
Another video from youku:
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNDgzMzk5OTgw.html
The unbox of the Xiaomi Mi2, it looks like original (with the invoice from Xiaomi)
And this one has no star and has pins.
Yes, it could be another fake, but I start to think that there are different revisions of the same mobile phone.
H2K
The admin of miuiandroid.com confirmed me that the star near the Mi logo mean it’s a sample phone
Do you boys think that this is an original one? http://www.boxwill.com/p-original_xiaomi_m2_smart_phone_android_4_1_jelly_bean_miui_os_quad_core_3g_1_5ghz_4_3_inch_capacitive_touchscreen_2gb_ram_32gb_rom-4481-eur.html
Do you think this Xioami M2 is a fake (copy)?
Device
========================================================================================
Device: aries
Model: MI 2
Board: aries
Product: aries
Brand: Xiaomi
Manufacturer: Xiaomi
CPU+ABI: armeabi-v7a
Bootloader: unknown
Radio: unknown
Hardware: mt6577
Release: 4.1.1
SDK: 15
Type: user
Build: JRO03L
Locale: en_US
Screen
========================================================================================
Resolution: 540 x 960
Density DPI: 240 (High)
Logical Density: 1.5
Font Scaling Factor: 1.5
Refresh Rate: 60.72
X DPI: 240.0
Y DPI: 240.0
Pixel Format: Unknown (5)
Color Depth: 32 bit
Estimated Screen Size: 4.59 in / 116.59 mm
I would say yes. Sorry
YES – look at Hardware: mt6577 – it is MTK CPU not Exynos44
Xiaomi Mi2 uses a Snapdragon S4 Pro, Newman N2 uses an Exynos
Hello, search custom rom for Xiaomi MI2 fake clone, have same machine of Johnny Bostad.
Please alter or delete this post, the information is incorrect.
The real version has no star next to the logo and also, the logo on the back isn’t that good on the real version 2 (from close).
People are misled by this post thinking there phone is fake.
Yeah, this article sucks. If your phone runs like a total beast it’s real, if its laggy and slow you have a fake. Also the screen on the real m2 is too good to fake