How to Spot Fake AirPods Pro: Latest Guide

The real vs. fake situation is so blurred that first-time正版 users often can't tell a fake product apart from the genuine article.

If you're planning to buy, we recommend purchasing directly from JD.com or official stores.

》Illustrated guide to spotting fakes

Most methods found online for distinguishing real from fake have become ineffective. Only people who regularly use genuine products can identify authenticity based on years of hands-on experience. (Even customer service at the platform where you bought them might not be able to tell the difference.)

The most reliable approach:

1. Original product invoice (the so-called product traceability provided by whom). It's unclear whether this can be forged, but with an invoice for an earlier-generation pair of headphones, you can take them to an Apple Store for free inspection and replacement. (I've done this twice already, and this time they're still in transit.)

2. Long-term usage: Fake headphones tend to wear out quickly. They may experience unstable heating issues. After repeatedly taking them out and putting them back in a few times, the fakes will become erratic and fail to connect to your device—you'll need to take them out of the case and restart. Genuine headphones don't have this problem. People who don't use them regularly might mistake this for an occasional bug.

3. Activate Siri. If you have multiple Apple devices, you'll notice that Apple prioritizes the device closest to you—when wearing headphones, the paired headphones take precedence in activating Siri. The awkward part is that fake headphones have poor microphone quality (to cut costs), and many have fake mics. As a result, when you call Siri, it's often a nearby device like my speaker that responds instead of my headphones. Without multiple devices, just headphones and a phone separated by a wall at 3-5 meters away, speaking normally would wake Siri with genuine headphones, but not with fakes. (Fake headphones can also support dual-device pairing, meaning you can connect to two devices simultaneously, but if you have a third device like a computer, it won't recognize the headphones. This might be patched in the future. It's really embarrassing, in fact, even a real Mac can't directly identify it—I was wrong》Detailed illustrated guide)

4. Fake headphones have fake spatial audio. When you enable spatial audio on genuine headphones and play music, pay attention to moving your head and ears—the ear closer to the device will perceive louder sound, while the farther ear will hear softer sound. With fake headphones, you won't notice any difference in sound.

5. Headphone firmware can be updated. Genuine headphones usually have the latest firmware, which updates automatically whenever you charge them—about half an hour is sufficient. Obviously, fake headphones cannot receive official Apple firmware updates. The firmware version on fake headphones is locked at factory. Unless you buy the latest fake headphones, older fake ones will definitely not have the newest firmware version.

6.With genuine headphones in Bluetooth settings, you can set noise cancellation for a single earbud. Fake headphones generally only support noise cancellation when both earbuds are in use, and you can't set it for a single earbud. (I couldn't find the single-earbud noise cancellation option even in the latest firmware version)

7. Battery level jumps. Genuine headphone battery displays are stable with no sudden jumps. With fake headphones, if you repeatedly open and close the charging case, you might notice the battery percentage fluctuating (e.g., suddenly dropping from 65% to 64%, then back to 65% on the next open). There's also the issue where after using the headphones and they run out of battery, placing them back in the charging case should trigger an orange charging indicator light—but on fakes, it might stay green, making it seem fully charged when it's not.

Currently, the most reliable methods all rely on having extensive long-term usage experience to notice the differences between real and fake. People without usage experience may never notice the differences. So, if you want to save money on usage costs, you can buy fake Huaqiangbei headphones for around 208 yuan—they're nearly indistinguishable from the real thing, and it requires long-term experience to tell the difference.

China is indeed impressive. For genuine products, we still recommend JD.com or official stores. (The current situation is that customer service is using outdated authentication methods to claim the product is genuine... Alibaba, Alipay, Taobao, and Xianyu are scary. It's hard to provide evidence, and they might even accuse you of trying to scam them with a fake. So don't be tempted by cheap prices; I should wait for my genuine product to return from inspection.)

Evidence was rejected, rights protection failed

For someone with my level of experience in rights protection, it's basically impossible to handle. Stay away from counterfeits, stay away from Xianyu—I'll never trust Xianyu transactions again.

In case you might need it: How to protect your rights when you buy counterfeit goods on Xianyu? (General consumer rights protection process)

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