While the iPhone XS arrives, pay attention to Apple's imitations in the resale market

Even the most experienced iPhone inspectors have been deceived by imitations. NOAH BERGER / AFP / Getty Images

The latest generation of iPhone – the iPhone XR, the iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Max – arrives in store Thursday. At the same time, the used phone market will experience an exceptional boost this year, as a record number of new iPhone owners in the grass (iPhone XS and XS Max sold online from pre-orders) will put their old iPhones for sale on the market. Second-hand market to justify the exorbitant prices of new models.

With new phones, authenticity is not usually a problem as long as you buy directly from Apple or your mobile network operator. However, if you plan to buy an iPhone X or an older model in the resale market, you must take special care to ensure that you buy the real offer Apple because there are fake iPhone and accessories iPhone. United States And, as past examples have shown, some of the copiers have been very successful at cloning Apple's cutting-edge devices, at least in appearance.

In August of last year, smartphone experts from the Cult of Mac, an informational site for Apple fans proposing a gadget buyout program, discovered a pink gold iPhone 7 that looked amazingly like reality . Resale experts, who would review hundreds of iPhones used every day, were fooled by the flawless appearance of the phone until they tested its operating system, which turned out to be a version of Android hacked into an iOS look-alike.

This year, a vice-reporter found a high-quality counterfeit iPhone X for only $ 100 in Shenzhen, China. The report was so indistinguishable that the report thought that "maybe we just got a crazy deal on a real iPhone X".

But the operating system has also turned out to be a modified version of Android.

Of course, "knockoff" phones are just the tip of the iceberg. There is also a whole army of less ambitious copycats specializing in the manufacture of counterfeit iPhone accessories such as chargers and cables.

In 2016, Apple filed a major lawsuit against Amazon after discovering that Amazon (and not third-party sellers) was selling counterfeit Apple chargers to US consumers.

The lawsuit alleged that these false accessories were made in China and Hong Kong. Electronics distributors, mainly in New York and New Jersey, would buy them in bulk and then sell to Amazon the lots that had escaped the customs inspection process. These fake Apple accessories were much cheaper than the originals. (You could get an iPhone charger for $ 3.) However, Apple warns that the extremely low price of questionable Apple products is not worth the security risk involved.

A counterfeit or non-certified charger, for example, could overheat your phone, disrupt your synchronization between devices, or even permanently damage your phone, warns Apple on its website.