After seeing two different phone makers announce and promote their latest knock off designs we ask “s there really still a market for clone phones?”
The Chinese phone industry is at the cutting edge of production design and development. Each year we see Chinese phone makers lead the world in technology and innovation. Examples are easy to come by, Vivo were the first phone maker to use a 2K display, Oppo innovated with the rotating camera of the N1 and N3, and Gionee are constantly trying to build the thinnest smartphones on the market.
They might not get everything right each time, but at least Chinese smartphone makers, as a whole, are bringing cutting edge ideas, technology and design to the phone market.
Gizchina News of the week
But still there are some people who see Chinese phones as cheap, low quality and laughable devices, this blame can be partly blamed on the past, but also current clone phones which are still being produced and sold on the market.
We have seen a decrease in the number of clones in recent years, but they are still about with 2 brands announcing knock off version of the Galaxy S6 just today, but is there really a market for these devices?
Often there are equally or better spec phones as the clones for the same money, but are people really choosing a fake phone over a none clone?
In our opinion we would not recommend or buy a clone, but that’s just our opinion. Do you think there is still a market for such devices? Do you think clones are a good prospect for phone buyers? Or do you hope that they will all be eventually abandoned for more original products? Let us know your opinions in the comments below.
I don’t like phones of the major brands at all. Such as Samsung and Apple… have too stupid design, but, anyway, they have good characteristics. I don’t understand, what sense there is to buy such a stupid design with lower characteristics!? 🙂
Not everyone thinks they are stupid design. You do realize not everyone in the world shares the same exact opinion as you? Some people on here love the looks of one phone, others completely hate it. For instance I think bezeless phones are fugly, others love them.
Yes, you are right. It’s just my opinion:)
They’ll keep making these crappy phones cause people keep buying them. It’s unfortunate because they also use these clones to scam unsuspecting buyers of the original products.
This happens in Thailand all the time, they sell Galaxy S4 and 5’s that look nearly identical. The only way you can tell they are fake is that the price is significant less and if you open up the back of it and remove the battery. For the average person who is just shopping in Thailand they have no clue.
NO! clones are shat and crappy specced!
i HATE clones , they intoxicate the glittering potential of the Chinese Mobile Market !
But they are CHEAP Muhammad!!!!
pretty obvious!
BUT i always look for latest tech at the best price…
so anything BELOW 64 bit is a no-go !
You, but the rest of the world isnt you.
The rest of the world barely knows whats RAM, they buy phones based in price and looks.
Most of the people here look for the latest tech at the best price. Thats why we’re here, not because we love chinese phones. We dont all post on every post about overpriced every phone is tho haha
din’t get that last sentence … typo ?
Yea bro ahaha
Well, they should at least know this :
” MOST (95%) clones SEVERELY lack in performance and design quality when compared to their inspirations ”
which means money spent on clones is almost ALWAYS money well wasted !
I wouldn’t say it’s money well wasted. It really depends on the needs of the user in question. A lot of people don’t need anything close to the performance of a flagship phone from Samsung but they love the looks of that phone.
When I bought my Mi4 my mother loved the looks of it but she uses her phone for the mere basics, facebook and a few light games. A SD 801 is overkill for her. I bough the No.1 Mi4 to compare it to the original and then ended up giving it to her. She got the phone she loved the look of with the specs that are perfect for everyday needs.
HMM.. thats true…
but at least every phone should be a bare minimum of 64 bit proccessors with 2gb ram at beginner level (sd 410 or mtk 6732/35)
I agree most phones should be 2GB of RAM these days, but 64 bit right now is more marketing than substance. If your phone doesn’t run Lollipop (which plenty still don’t offer) 64 bit is useless, even if its does run 5.0 the majority of apps are built for 32 bit. It will take at least 1-2 years for developers to really take advantage of the benefits of 64 bit. The current benefits like low power consumption have proven to be negligible in real world tests.
I travel all around the world for business and leisure, everywhere I go I visit electronics stores, markets, malls and pretty much anywhere that sells phones. I often hear people asking the sales rep how much RAM is in a certain phone. Not sure where your ignorant “rest of the world” comments comes from but I would love to see your research you have done on the topic.
As long as stupid people exist, always,we will have clones of everything, they even clone Colgate and diapers
ahaha!
true!
The problem with clone devices is that they are mainly made to look like something, not to work like something; they look like an iPhone but they work like a potato. If a brand makes an Samsung S6 look-a-like with good specs, I don’t see what’s wrong with it. (Except for the obvious design-stealing etc)
A S6 clone with a 64-bit 6752, 3GB of RAM, OGS, Gorilla Glass3, etc. All the things you want and all the things you expect from a ‘good nowadays China-phone.’ I would buy it when they don’t use overdrive on the price tag just because it’s looking like a S6. You know why? I personally think the Samsung designs are very good and I would love to have one. It’s just that I will never pay so much money for a device which has so much power I will never need. So if a brand creates a phone with the slick Samsung design but with more realistic (for me) performance and with smaller price..than I would buy that phone 🙂
No.1 is working on the road but their last devices were all crippled with 1GB RAM and lousy displays. That is not needed. And since they don’t spend much money on researching the design, the price can be lower as well.
I thing it’s a good thing more creative designs are coming from Chinese manufactures itself but a good, powerful and affordable clone still has some market I think.
I am with you on Samsung. I love the look and specs on some of their phones but I have too problems with them: the first is obviously price the second they use the worst software in my opinion and I have never gotten a good ROM to run flawlessly on a Sammy phone, there’s always some issue.
Both your problems could be a reason to buy a clone. Lower price and mostly a stock Android 🙂
I hate stock Android it is too boring for me and takes me hours to download Nova and get it just the way I like it. That is why I usually either buy Xioami or get a phone that has a stable MIUI rom. To me MIUI is the perfect OS.
Fully agree, but again, those “brands” don’t really care to offer good or updated specs, if they still can sell good just offering the old SoCs, that’s the case of iPhone, Samsung Clones, we hardly will see one of them with good specs like those you referred.
Yes There quiet a big market for clones, especially In developing World, where people don’t wanna spent money on big brand also Don’t wanna buy cheap Chinese brand But they wanna status Of big brands, So the market is Even bigger Than In the past…
Of course there is still a market for clones, people is more willing to pay for a low end phone with the looks of a high end phone than to pay less for a mid range phone of a “unknow” brand even though the clone they are getting was probably build in a basement.
I ve never bought knock offs for myself but it is always nice to know that if a device is super sexy from a brand, i can buy it for less than 200$.
In my opinion, chinese phones have a bad reputation, not because of knock offs.
I ve bought many chinese phones over the past 3 years and i have come to the conclusion that their most common problems are: hardware and lack of spare parts (meaning low budget brands, not Xiaomi, ZTE, Huawei etc.) which is a great deal for people since they dont have the patience to send their phones back to China all the time for fixing.
If low-budget chinese brands take better care of their phones i think people will buy them like candy 😀
it’s dumb to clone a phone cause no one would respect you and it will definitely never work as the original ,
I don’t mind cloning software features like what Xiaomi and Meizu started doing to some extent or using some design elements like finger print home button , metal band and frame around the phone , glass back to look cool etc…
but complete clone is a huge turnoff
There will always be a market for clone phones, we may not all agree with them but they continue to sell well.
WHY :'( …. they are so lacklustre compared to their inspirations…
why are people so gullible…?
P.S im especially against these since a PLETHORA of clone phones are sold in my country and i really shudder when i see their specs compared to what the original had…
I have only bought one clone phone it was the No. 1 Mi4. I had always been curious about clones and I have the real Mi4 so I found one on sale and figured it was the perfect time to test one.
In all honesty I was shocked and surprised at how good of a job they did. The build quality is almost spot on, the performance while not as good is respectable, even the camera was pretty good. My mom actually still uses it today.
wow!
if the price is right then why not? i dont buy clones just because of the branding, if i can get high-clocked octacore 3gig ram with great cam sensor and dual sim lte specced clone at more or less $200 then why not. makes a good secondary phone..
I personally think clones have a lot to do with Chinese phones bad reputation, talking from experience here. I’ve bought a lot of Chinese devices for friends/family and as others have seen how good they are they have also purchased. The problem I’ve found is certain people are very resistant to the idea and class all Chinese phones as ‘cheap cloned crap’ that will break the 1st time you use it. Personally I think the authorities should crack down on this practice, it will make for better phones in the future as it will promote innovation as manufacturers will have to create more unique phones to stand out in an ever over populated market. This also brings me on to my second point, if Chinese manufacturers are going to branch out overseas (as most of us consumers want) then they ain’t gonna get away with blatant copies as Europe/US will come down on them for copyright infringement.
People are resistant to things they know little about. Once they get their hands on an actual Chinese phone I find most people saying, “wow this comes from China, tell me more about it”. You would be surprised how many people will stop me when they see my Mi4 and ask about it. Clones have always been around and always will be, it happens in just about every single business. If China banned them, they would start making them in Vietnam or India. You will never get rid of them.
The companies that are going to eventually make it to the NA market don’t make blatant copies. Companies like Goophone have no plans to ever launch in the west, companies like Xiaomi, Meizu and OPO do.
Yes, if they come with great build and specs like 1:1 replica then somehow they might have still a role in the market
In a sense, it makes the market seem less mature, in some ways that can be beneficial, for you, Gizchina, I take it though it makes it harder to sell the concept of quality phones from China.
On the past I had made a huge mistake of acquiring a Clone device, of Note 3 in fact. The phone was good on the start, because when you get a clone you think that advantages of a 1:1 clone, accessories and possibility to use real batteries make them better. After a time those devices, crap made, start to show problems, on my case front camera stopped, and headphone jack too. The Rom was really really crap and buggy. A stupid acquisition… But Again, I guess what made me choose a clone on that time? It was on end of 2013, theres no really “cool” chinese device that I can afford on that time. (I’ve paid $185 on that potato, sicks me, but that was the “common” price for a MTK6589) Now the things have changed. There are really nice devices from Chinese brands, and this time with clear design, not something generic like before, features and more that make them really more attractive. Because in the fact, anything is better than a clone, but people still thinking it’s a good option for the price, cheating themselves, or just to show like an original device.
I’ve been there too, but to be honest I don’t regret it.
It was a 150$ clone that overall was OK except for the camera stopped working after 1 month.
Thank to it I went deep into Chinese market and now it’s like an obsession. Lol
I mean,look at yourself, you started buying a clone and now you write articles about Chinese phones.
I’m pretty sure there are a lot of readers here that approached the Chinese market pushed by the curiosity of clones.
I don’t recommend anybody buying one, but I would not blame anyone either.
but i think if people are made aware and taught in general… they might as well SIGNIFICANTLY hurt the clone market by avoiding it altogether…
😀
P.S i was attracted to chinese phones by one of those random ads on google search AND the fact chinese are my country’s besties
Happens, I once paid $275 for an MT6577 phone.
Ouch
That really hurts..
Yeah you’re right, I also reconigze that, but I’ve had a MTK6577 phone before, and I could say that was the phone that brought me to the Chinese Tech, that was more an Knock-Off than a Clone itself, not 1:1 just a resemblance of Note 2 from the old Star Brand lol That phone was been robbed from me, but so far that phone made me prefer the old MTK6577 SoC than the MTK6589. You’re right on your point, of course one of the main factors who call users attention for China are the Clone industry, But maybe this will change someday with the Chinese Big Ones growing up and turning more and more relevant!
just imagine for a moment what you could have bought with that $185 in today’s age 😀 !
90% of clones are only there for the resemblance, everything else is of the worst quality. there is also a small percentage of good quality clones, but that’s the minority unfortunately,
they ideed contribute to the bad reputation of chinese smartphones, but since resellers make a lot of money with them, their production will never stop. I hope at least the basic quality will be improved, I’ve seen more and more improvements in quality from small brands, so this may also happen for clone makers.
Hi Riccardo; back in early 2013 I bought my first Chinese android phone from a company called Feiteng. That phone was “modeled on” the then new Samsung galaxy S4. It is an absolutely brilliant phone; and in fact it is still running. It was that phone that got me hooked on Chinese phones. I didn’t have a clue what I was purchasing at the time so I guess I was lucky with what I got.
What was the phone?
Hi Roger; the brand was “Feiteng” – I don’t think it had any particular model number – the box it arrived in was thrown away long ago so can’t check sorry. When you turn the phone on it even starts up with that Dandelion start screen that Samsung made so popular.
Thanks for the reply. I’ve owned a Feiteng phone before (I had issues with mine – the touchscreen was not correctly calibrated), sold under the brand name HTM. For a while they released phones with brand name HTM, but Feiteng now use the brand Landvo.
The start screen and music is incredibly easy to clone if you know what you are doing.
Check Atlanta Craigslist, tons of note 4 clones being sold as the reals deal.
Looking back, it’s like a rite of passage for any geek. Buy a clone, regret it, learn more about Chinese phones and then acknowledge the true innovation in China
I totally agree with what vivo did…but i dont agree that oppo innovated the swivel camera coz an Indian brand named Notion ink had used this swivel camera tech back in 2009 on their adam tablet…
Wouldn’t NEVER buy one
So you would buy one?
maybe 😀 :DD
can i buy ECOO E04??
is this brand trusted ??
i really wanna buy e04 but i m concerned about quality of this brand….can i use ecoo for more than 3 years without any problem or not?
please somebody answer me its really important for me…
As long as there are fools and crooks to take advantage of the fools there will be a market for cloned phones. Personally I much prefer the brands like Jiayu, Elephone, Mlais and Ecoo for bringing budget priced great phones to the market. May the new exiting small brands continue to produce great products at great prices. PS any news on when the Jiayu S4 will be released as this will probably be my next purchase.
Would that be the same Jiayu who cloned the Iphone 5? Or the same Mlais that cloned the Xiaomi and Samung? Or how about the Ecoo Focus which looked almost identical the S5? Guess you include yourself in with the fools and crooks….
Yes that’s right the same companies, it would seen that there are no companies that do not take styling from each other, but at least these brands do not claim to be an iphone or a Samsung they have their own brand name and model number on them. I therefore do not consider them to be cloner’s. The clone manufacturers even put the cloned brand / model number on the phones and try to trick the purchasers into thinking that they have bought a genuine Samsung or iphone this is why crooks purchase the clones and try to sell them as genuine premium brand phones. If it say’s Jiayu or Mlais on them no one is going to try and sell it as a genuine Samsung / iphone.
Not all clone manufacturers do that. Goophone and No.1 for instance, the two features in this article, don’t have Samsung written anywhere on their phones. So a company is only a crook when they try to sell it as a genuine product not when they completely rip off the design of another phone? If I have a car company and I build an exact replica of a Ford Mustang but I don’t have the Ford/Mustang names or logo’s anywhere on the car, that is okay to sell it? Or is it only okay if it’s a brand name you happen to like?
China is the big brother in cloning. These bosses are making rich by producing these products. They won’t talk about ethical when they make big money by producing these products. They have even cloned milk powder for babies. It’s all about demand and supply. It’s a simple logic. Mankind is willing to die for money, birds willing to die for foods.
Have you ever come across a A1 grade cloned Louis Vuitton Handbag from Korean? Why Korean produced these products? It’s the same reason and logic. Work less but get big rewards.
I personally don’t buy clones. If I really like Rolex watch, I’ll buy the real Rolex if I can afford it. If I can’t afford, I’ll buy a Seiko watch which can still perfectly function as a watch. Above is just my 2 cents worth of opinion.
Another issue is unknown clone phones. I ordered a Meizu m1 note (199$) when i was in China then tried to update my firmware but could not update. Meizu service said that it was clone. I shocked! So, my advice is to buy a Chinese phone in well-known shops!
Wait you were in China and ordered a Meizu phone? What part of China were you in? There are hundreds of official Meizu stores all around the country.
as long as the iphone and samsung are at rip off prices, there will be a clone market
It is very simple really, it is still around because people still buy it. The cost seems attractive and eludes them from the long term run.