1 question: Is there really still a market for clone phones?

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.

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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.

Disclaimer: We may be compensated by some of the companies whose products we talk about, but our articles and reviews are always our honest opinions. For more details, you can check out our editorial guidelines and learn about how we use affiliate links.

About the author

Andi

WOOHer
April 30, 2015
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!? 🙂
- balcobomber25
  May 4, 2015
  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.
  - WOOHer
    June 17, 2015

mf1gt3r
April 30, 2015
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.
- balcobomber25
  April 30, 2015
  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.

Muhammad Yasir
April 30, 2015
NO! clones are shat and crappy specced!
i HATE clones , they intoxicate the glittering potential of the Chinese Mobile Market !
- Edwin
  April 30, 2015
  - Muhammad Yasir
    April 30, 2015
    pretty obvious!
    BUT i always look for latest tech at the best price…
    so anything BELOW 64 bit is a no-go !
    - Xalis
      May 1, 2015
      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.
      - Edwin
        May 1, 2015
        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
        
        Muhammad Yasir
        May 1, 2015
        din’t get that last sentence … typo ?
        Edwin
        May 1, 2015
      - Muhammad Yasir
        May 1, 2015
        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 !
        
        balcobomber25
        May 4, 2015
        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.
        
        Muhammad Yasir
        May 4, 2015
        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)
        balcobomber25
        May 4, 2015
        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.
      - balcobomber25
        May 4, 2015
        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.

George
April 30, 2015
As long as stupid people exist, always,we will have clones of everything, they even clone Colgate and diapers
- Muhammad Yasir
  May 1, 2015

Jeep ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ
April 30, 2015
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.
- balcobomber25
  April 30, 2015
  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.
  - Jeep ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ
    May 1, 2015
    Both your problems could be a reason to buy a clone. Lower price and mostly a stock Android 🙂
    - balcobomber25
      May 2, 2015
      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.
- Marco Lancaster
  April 30, 2015
  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.

Sinan Cagrı Kurt
April 30, 2015
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…
Xalis
April 30, 2015
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.

April 30, 2015
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 😀

seven7dust
April 30, 2015
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
balcobomber25
April 30, 2015
There will always be a market for clone phones, we may not all agree with them but they continue to sell well.
- Muhammad Yasir
  May 1, 2015
  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…
  - balcobomber25
    May 1, 2015
    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.
    - Muhammad Yasir
      May 2, 2015
gey
April 30, 2015
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..

Rob
April 30, 2015
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.
- balcobomber25
  April 30, 2015
  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.

iANDROID8.1
April 30, 2015
Yes, if they come with great build and specs like 1:1 replica then somehow they might have still a role in the market
Max
April 30, 2015
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.
Marco Lancaster
April 30, 2015
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 $185 on that potato, sicks me, but that was the “common” price for a MTK6589) Now the things have changed. There are really nice devices from Chinese brands, and this time with clear design, not something generic like before, features and more that make them really more attractive. Because in the fact, anything is better than a clone, but people still thinking it’s a good option for the price, cheating themselves, or just to show like an original device.
- MaxPower
  April 30, 2015
  I’ve been there too, but to be honest I don’t regret it.
  It was a 150$ 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.
  - Muhammad Yasir
    May 1, 2015
    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

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