CT scans performed by Jon Bruner on an industrial machine show the inner workings of fake Apple AirPods and reveal why most of them sound so tinny. The main issue appears to be the companies making these knockoffs have never used a pair of AirPods, so they have nothing to base their sound off of, resulting in audio quality that sounds like something from the 1990s.
The fake AirPods pack a lot less electronic components, all of which are connected by wires and not flexible PCBs. It’s safe to say that you won’t find wires like this in any modern mobile Apple product. You can also add a lack of magnets, use of lower-quality plastic, and smaller batteries to the laundry list of issues too.
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The world is full of counterfeit Apple products. We CT scanned two fake AirPods and compared them to the real thing… 🧵 pic.twitter.com/VFWvAwUrox
— Jon Bruner (@JonBruner) November 7, 2023
The soldering isn’t very good in the fakes, either; you can see a few globs of solder splattered inside the enclosure,” said Bruner.
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