How to Determine If Your Phone is Genuine or a Counterfeit

Nowadays, mobile devices, especially high-end phones, are widely counterfeited, some call them “fakes” or “premium fakes”, so buying phones is over. Using or using cheap brands is very risky. Counterfeit goods are quite similar to genuine products, so you can’t tell them apart only by the materials the phone is made of, but also have to combine many other ways. Once you know the features to consider, you’ll be able to check if your phone is genuine.

Table of Contents

External quality check

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Compare the phone to be tested with another genuine phone. Most expensive phones are made from high-quality materials. If possible, you should compare that phone with similar genuine phones to find similarities and differences.

However, there is no guarantee that the phone is genuine even though it may look extremely similar to a similarly expensive, high-quality phone.

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Go to the manufacturer’s website and check the phone’s building materials. To be sure, you’d better check on the manufacturer’s website to see what materials your phone is made of.

For example, your phone belongs to Samsung and the information on the website says that the screen of this Samsung phone is made of glass. If the screen of the phone in your hand is made of plastic, it is likely a fake.

Check installation software and other specification

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Check the specification printed on the box. You can find the specs on the back of the box. Compare them with the settings in Settings > About phone. If these details don’t match, your phone may be a fake.

In case the phone is lost in the box, you can view all the relevant specifications of the phone online on the GSMArena or the carrier’s homepage.

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Check your phone’s specs using a third-party app. To check your phone’s specs, find and download the Antutu Benchmark software on Google Play. The app has a red Android icon on a fire background. This software will allow you to test the operating speed, then identify the full specifications and name of the device.

If third-party software shows the name of another phone manufacturer, your phone is probably a fake.

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Software testing. For iPhone, you can check the software settings. Fake iPhones often use Android operating system and do not support Java. Counterfeit manufacturers cannot counterfeit the iOS operating system because it is proprietary to Apple.

One point to note: the iPhone’s app store is the iTunes App Store, not Google Play.
The iPhone is connected to iTunes through an iCloud account, allowing you to sync your phone.

Check IMEI number and serial number

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Check the serial number. For iPhone products, check the serial number and validate it on the home page.

To see your iPhone’s serial number, go to Settings > General > About phone.
Once the serial number is determined, enter it here: https://selfspve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do. The website will check the phone’s warranty period.
If the system says “We’re sorry, but this serial number is not valid. Please check your information and try again” (serial number is invalid), maybe your iPhone is a fake.

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Check IMEI number. For Android phones and other mobile phones, you can find the IMEI number on the back of the phone. If the sticker has been changed, go to Settings > About > Status. Information about IMEI number is also in this section.

You can also press *#06# from the keypad to view your phone’s IMEI number.
After getting the IMEI number, access the website Imei.info. Enter the IMEI number of your phone in the “ENTER IMEI…” box and press “CHECK”.
The system will verify your phone information. If the information on the web does not match the information in the phone, the phone may be a fake.

Steps

External quality check

Check installation software and other specification

Check IMEI number and serial number

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