How to Spot Fake AirPods Pro

Apple products stand out for their high quality and stylish design, which makes them extremely popular in the world market. And that’s the reason why many other manufacturers want to copy their products. So it’s no surprise that the release of AirPods Pro increased the list of counterfeits even more.

5-Minute Crafts studied the details we should pay attention to when buying these expensive earbuds.

Inspect the packaging and the user manual.

Despite the fact that it’s quite easy to copy the original packaging, manufacturers of fake goods often make mistakes at this stage. For example, they apply a sticker with information on the top of the package, while Apple applies it to the bottom part of the package. Sometimes, they can place the manual for regular AirPods inside the package instead of the manual for AirPods Pro. Such little things might look insignificant, but it’s these details that can help us spot fakes at first glance.

Inspect the case of your earbuds from all sides.

• There’s another tiny detail that can help you spot AirPods Pro fakes. This detail is located in the front part of the earbuds’ case: an LED light. The indicator light in the authentic AirPods Pro is not very bright, and it’s focused and contained. The LED itself is covered with a thin layer of transparent plastic, which makes the hole in the place where the indicator is located unnoticeable. Most fakes miss this detail, which results in a brighter and less focused LED light. You might feel as if it’s illuminating the plastic around it. There is also usually a visible small hole in the place where the light comes from.

• When checking the case from the back, it’s worth paying attention to the hinge connecting the bottom and the upper parts of the case. This part looks very normal (just like everything else) when it comes to the authentic buds. The hinge doesn’t protrude, it’s spaced evenly, and its color is silver-gray. This detail will look a bit off on counterfeit AirPods Pro cases, as it won’t look even and may also look inaccurate.

• Several millimeters lower, parallel to the hinge, there should be text that reads: “Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in China,” if the buds are original. This may be missing in the counterfeit product, or it can be copied with mistakes and be located at the wrong level (higher or lower than it would be with the original buds).

• Also, pay attention to the button located at the back of the case. It should be completely flush with the rest of the case on the original product. It’s not wobbly, nor does it have even the slightest curvature in the places where the plastic was cut and processed to fit. Fake AirPods Pro might be missing all these details.

• Inspect the bottom part of the original AirPods Pro case, and you’ll see that the charging port is very snug. The metal ring at the very top of the lightning port is very thin and accurate. If you look at fake buds, the ring on the port will look thick and rough. The port itself might look a bit “sunken in” on the plastic.

• Pay attention to the color of the AirPods Pro case. The original model is made of glossy plastic and is pure white in color. The case of fake AirPods Pro can have a yellowish hue and inhomogeneous color. Also, counterfeit manufacturers sometimes use matte surfaces instead of plastic with a glossy surface.

• Look inside the AirPods Pro case. You’ll see a serial number printed on the top of the case flap. Every case has its own unique number. You can check the originality of the headset on Apple’s official website by inserting this number in a special line. Many fake buds will have no serial number at all or they may have a number that will be spotted as a mistake on the Apple site.

Inspect the buds.

• The original buds have a serial number imprinted on them, just like the box and the case do. Find this number and compare it with the other ones. An important note: Serial numbers on the package, case, and buds should match.

• Inspect diffusers on the outer and inner sides of the buds. In the original product, the mesh of the outer diffusers has a homogenous matte coloring and is located on the same level as the buds’ case. The same mesh of an AirPods Pro replica can have uneven coloring, with a gray metal stripe that goes along the contour. It can also slightly protrude over the case.

• Diffusers on the inner side also have an even color in authentic AirPods Pro. They are black and slightly glossy. Though the mesh is noticeable, it has a purely black color. Diffusers of counterfeits can be matte and have uneven coloring. The mesh on these oftentimes looks lighter than the black plastic surrounding it.

• Inspect the buds’ legs. The producers of replicas often forget how these elements look on authentic AirPods Pro (or they simply don’t pay attention to it). The bottom part of the original buds consists of white plastic and a thin metal ring. There are no visible indentations on the legs.

• Moreover, counterfeit manufacturers sometimes forget to mark the right and the left buds with the letters “R” and “L.”

• Inspect the shape of the earcups. The holes in the ear cushions of authentic AirPods Pro have a slightly elongated shape and a much bigger size compared to the same elements in many other models.

• Inspect the buds and find optical sensors on them. Most counterfeit manufacturers don’t add these elements to their products because they significantly increase the production cost of the buds.

• Remove the ear cushions and examine the main dynamic of the buds. In the authentic AirPods Pro, these elements consist of a dense black-gray mesh and black plastic surrounding it (the mesh and the plastic look almost identical in color). The mesh fits snugly to the body of the earphone, the holes in it are even, and the plastic looks neat. The dynamic mesh in fake earbuds can be grayer than the plastic around it. The plastic itself might look inaccurate and uneven.

General recommendation: Pay attention to each element on the AirPods Pro buds when examining them. All the details of the authentic product will be made extremely accurately, nicely, and without extra details. Any weird-looking elements or defects indicate that you are likely dealing with a fake.