After the advent of Apple’s AirPods headphones, it led to the rise of demand for TWS headphones, but it also led to the emergence of counterfeit goods. These counterfeit goods look the same as AirPods, and their main functions are also claimed to be the same as the genuine ones. But there are ways to counterfeit goods. Become a “replacement” for AirPods?
Earlier, startup Lumafield used a CT scanner to understand how expensive Apple’s Thunderbolt 4 cables are, and now the company has once again used a CT scanner to examine the internal structure of real and fake AirPods, revealing the complex internal design of real AirPods headphones. The quality and precision are unmatched by knock-off products.
The world is full of counterfeit Apple products. We CT scanned two fake AirPods and compared them to the real thing… 🧵 pic.twitter.com/VFWvAwUrox
— Jon Bruner (@JonBruner) November 7, 2023
Battery
Lumafield believes that the battery is the key to the wireless convenience and flexibility of AirPods. The real AirPods are equipped with carefully designed button batteries in each earbud. The main purpose is to closely fit the compact appearance and effectively provide the best Electricity.
In comparison, counterfeit AirPods use lithium-ion soft-pack batteries internally. Such batteries are not only less complex in structure, but also less safe. Compared with the compact design of the real AirPods battery, counterfeit AirPods only use a rectangular battery. The battery is crammed into a circular space and does not fit the body at all.
The real AirPod Pro has a coin-cell lithium-ion battery that fills the space behind the audio driver. The fake AirPods have tiny pouch cell batteries. (If you’re interested in batteries, check out our deep dive here) pic.twitter.com/Wa3f0KWBre
— Jon Bruner (@JonBruner) November 7, 2023
circuit
In terms of internal circuit design, real AirPods are a miracle of miniaturization and precision engineering. Apple uses a combination of hard and soft printed circuit boards to densely package components and ensure that every millimeter of internal space in AirPods is used effectively.
Counterfeit products are obviously much simpler and are made of off-the-shelf components. This also makes the headphones less functional. Counterfeit AirPods have fewer microphones and control circuits, which affects the sound quality.
The fakes have a lot less going on. Components are connected by wires, not flexible PCBs. You won’t find wires like this in any modern mobile Apple product. pic.twitter.com/S7mTJgtb6s
— Jon Bruner (@JonBruner) November 7, 2023
quality
The product quality of real AirPods is unquestionable.
One of the knockoff AirPods Lumafield tested offered no wireless charging at all (no coil was visible in the scan), while another had a wireless charging coil but lacked a magnet to attach to an Apple Watch charger.
Counterfeit AirPods use internal weights to imitate the weight of real AirPods, but have no other functions. This is actually a hidden deception method, making the counterfeit AirPods feel heavier to make up for the poor material and poor functionality. Few defects.
(Source of first picture:Lumafield）
New scientific and technological knowledge, updated from time to time
