Most expensive gadgets have knock-offs available in the market to get unaware consumers pay a hefty price for a fake in lieu of a real product. If you are in search of a cheaper deal for Apple’s AirPods, you need to be wary of a pair of fake AirPods.

Knock-offs are mostly the exact same replica of the real AirPods — at least on the exterior — but there are several ways to spot the fake from the real ones. If you’re worried about being scammed while buying Apple’s AirPods then we have got to covered.

Apart from spotting some design flaws in the fake ones, there are technical details also which can tell you if your AirPods are fake or real. In this article, we will give you a few tips to help you identify whether a pair of AirPods is real or fake by comparing technical and design details.

Also read: How to reset your Airpods and set them up again?

How to know if your AirPods are real through technical details?

It’s significantly hard to replicate the real Airpods, especially it’s tech, more so since the copy-maker is looking to cut down on manufacturing costs. It is definite that the fake AirPods will have several technical shortcomings when compared to the real AirPods. To list some, here are some commonly seen technical flaws in the fake AirPods.

Authentic AirPods connect quicker

The Apple’s AirPods uses H1 chip that connects to your iOS device without manually going into the bluetooth settings. The fake ones do not get connected as smoothly. Real AirPods connects faster to iOS devices. It is estimated that it doesn’t take longer than 10 seconds to connect to the nearby iOS device.

A lot of fake AirPods will require you to connect going through the bluetooth settings and in some cases, it might ask you to connect each AirPod individually. However, this will never happen with the authentic AirPods.

Try all features of the AirPods

While real AirPods come with variety of useful features, fake AirPods definitely struggle to replicate these features. To find out if your AirPods are real or not, test each of the features of AirPods l– double-tap on the stem to activate Siri, next/previous track, play/pause music and automatic ear detection. This will work according to the AirPods customised settings.

Battery life

While Apple claims that AirPods last upto 5 hours on single charge, fake AirPods have significantly shorter battery life.

Find My AirPods won’t work in case of fakes

Apple’s Find My feature is a great aid to find lost AirPods. It helps in tracking lost devices through Apple ID and naturally, knock-offs cannot work with your official Apple ID. Therefore, if Find My Airpods is not getting activated then your AirPods are likely a fake.

Also read: How to use Find My AirPods?

Design details that give away fake AirPods

When you compare the real AirPods with the fake AirPods, you can spot several design differences which suggest that the one you bought is real or fake.

Authenticate AirPods serial number with Apple’s records

The best way to authenticate your AirPods is to verify it on Apple’s website using its unique serial number. If your AirPods are fake then the serial number provided on the case will not be confirmed by Apple on their official website.

The serial number on the authentic AirPods can be used to check the warranty period remaining from the date of purchase. This in turn tells us that the AirPods are in the company’s product record and they are real.

Also read: How to find the serial number of your AirPods?

Compare packaging of real vs fake AirPods

One can often spot a fake product by looking at the packaging. Compare the box of your AirPods with the original box of AirPods and you might find some mistakes in the spellings or just some design inconsistencies. This is because most fake manufacturers do not give much attention to details.

The packaging will not be of good quality and you can easily spot the font size and colour difference as authentic packaging box has a very tight grey font colour and little spaces between the letters.

Check the lightning port and buttons

The real AirPods come with the charging case which has a lightning port at the bottom and the lid of the case closes magnetically. It has a single light source, which tells if the case and pods are charged sufficiently by turning the light orange and green. One can pair the AirPods with a setup button located at the back of the case, which might not be the case with the knock-offs.

Most fake AirPods weigh less than the real ones. Apple’s AirPods are of superior quality and fake AirPods are made up of cheaper material that is lighter.

Check AirPods and charging case body for design flaws

Compare your AirPods and their charging case design with the Apple’s AirPods. If you find design flaws like misaligned vents and holes then it is a possibility that you have a fake one in your hands — unless it’s a defected device, which Apple will replace.

Also read: Can you turn off the Airpods case?