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Counterfeit Apple merchandise are an actual downside. Earlier this 12 months we noticed US officers seize over a thousand faux AirPods and Apple Watches. And Apple has a devoted staff for coping with unlawful knockoffs. Whereas good counterfeits could look very convincing from the surface, an X-ray comparability reveals all of the variations between actual AirPods and fakes.

Jon Bruner at Lumafield shared the brand new CT scan comparability of genuine AirPods Professional vs two pairs of counterfeits (together with some MacBook chargers) on social media, the corporate’s weblog, and in a YouTube video.

Proven above, the actual AirPods Professional (2nd gen) is on the left with the knockoffs within the center and on the appropriate.

Listed below are the three principal variations the X-rays revealed between the actual headphones and fakes:

• Batteries
• Circuitry
• Construct high quality

In the case of batteries, Bruner says:

The genuine AirPods home meticulously-engineered button cell batteries in every earbud, designed to suit snugly inside the compact kind issue and supply optimum energy effectively. In distinction, each specimens of counterfeit AirPods include lithium-ion pouch cell batteries that aren’t solely much less refined of their development but additionally doubtlessly much less secure. The oblong pouches are crammed into round areas reasonably than tailor-made to suit.

For circuitry, the X-rays reveal the actual AirPods are “a marvel of miniaturization and precision engineering.”

That’s because of “a mixture of inflexible and versatile printed circuit boards to pack parts densely and be certain that each millimeter of house is used successfully.”

Then again, the counterfeit AirPods reveal a lot easier electronics cobbled collectively from off-the-shelf parts. That leaves much less room for performance; the counterfeits have fewer microphones and fewer management circuitry, compromising their sound high quality.