Attack of the clones: Xiaomi and Samsung biggest victims of China’s market for fake smartphones

Counterfeit smartphones abound in China, and over half are pirated versions of models by South Korean electronics giant Samsung and China’s Xiaomi, according to a new report.

Xiaomi, China’s biggest smartphone maker, shot to fame by offering what critics call cheap clones of Apple’s iPhone. Now even the clones are being cloned. 

When Chinese graduate student Mel Li’s iPhone 4S stopped working in January, she decided to buy a cheaper handset online to tide her over until she decided which smartphone to replace it with full-time.

The 27-year-old purchased an unbranded model that offered the same interface, operating system and appearance as a new Samsung smartphone, but at a fraction of the cost. 

“It’s made exactly the same as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3,” said Li.

In its report, Antutu, a Chinese benchmarking app for smartphones, found that 31 per cent of around 10 million devices using its service were imitation Samsung models. Counterfeit Xiaomi smartphones made up 37 per cent of the total.

The Mi Note, Xiaomi’s latest phablet, retails for about half the cost of a similar-spec Samsung Galaxy Note 4. At the bottom end of the spectrum, Xiaomi’s Redmi 2A smartphone can be had in China for as little as US$80.