The flow of counterfeit headphones seized at US borders has almost doubled since last year . At the moment, more of them have already been registered than in the entire 2020. It is estimated that in the first three quarters of fiscal year 2021, the total number of such headphones will reach approximately 360,000 pairs – at a value of $ 62.2 million. For the entire 2020, there were less than 300,000 pairs.
80% of the counterfeits are Chinese and mostly imitate Apple models. This is not surprising – after all, last year Apple received at least $ 16 billion from AirPods sales, and this does not include the AirPods Pro, released in 2019.
The real problem is that, according to experts, many fake AirPods are made with technology and equipment “stolen from factories working with Apple.” Many of them pair well with the iPhone and show the “correct” Apple serial number. You can only distinguish such a fake by analyzing the firmware codes.
The US Customs Service is said to continue to fight for the rights of consumers and manufacturers of headphones.