(Lumafield)
On the outside, a counterfeit pair of Apple AirPods often look identical to the real deal. But the products couldn’t be more different if you place them in an x-ray machine.
Industrial CT scanner provider Lumafield on Tuesday released some interesting x-rays comparing a real AirPods product with two pairs of fake ones. The images reveal the internal shortcuts counterfeit manufacturers take to produce the earbuds cheaply.
One major difference is the battery. Real AirPods will contain a“button cell” battery in each earbud, which is “designed to fit snugly within the compact form factor and provide optimal power efficiently,” Lumafield notes.
As you can see, no space is wasted when the Apple battery is fitted inside the AirPods casing. In contrast, the counterfeit earbuds don’t even bother with a circular battery. Instead, the manufacturers opted for a square-shaped “pouch” battery that Lumafield says is not only less sophisticated, but potentially unsafe, noting “the rectangular pouches are crammed into circular spaces rather than tailored to fit.”
Apple did the same with the circuitry for the AirPods, custom-fitting all the parts to maximize the space inside the earbuds' casing. The counterfeit AirPods, on the other hand, appear to be assembled together using off-the-shelf components.
“That leaves less room for functionality; the counterfeits have fewer microphones and less control circuitry, compromising their sound quality,” Lumafield says.
The scans also revealed that one of the counterfeit AirPods contained internal weights in the casing, with no other purpose but to “mimic the heft of the genuine product,” Lumafield says. Hence, customers should expect the counterfeit products to be of low quality, which will surprise no one, and consider buying earbuds from recognized vendors.
In addition to looking at fake AirPods, Lumafield also used its CT scanners to examine a counterfeit 5W MagSafe 2 Power Adapter for the MacBook. The x-rays reveal the fake product is designed with a simpler internal structure, suggesting it lacks the capabilities to safely manage the power supplied over the device.
“The CT scans reveal a dense, well-organized internal structure in the genuine charger and a more haphazard internal layout in the counterfeit,” Lumafield says. "They also reveal that the counterfeit charger has a fake grounding capability.”