How to tell if AirPods are fake

Some Apple counterfeits are easy to spot. The packaging and labels are often poorly produced; you might notice typing errors (such as “Dseigned by Apple”), a failure to match the company’s house style (such as ios instead of iOS), or clumsy mistranslations.

In the example above, provided by our colleagues on Macwelt, the warning signs are comparatively obvious but could be missed by a buyer in a hurry. The English section has missing punctuation. In the German section, there are missing umlauts. In the French section, ipadOS should be iPadOS.

Apple is famous for its attention to detail, and considers packaging an important part of the customer’s product experience. Any mistakes should put you on guard.

The next step is to check the serial number. This can be found on the side of the packaging and then entered into Apple’s website to check it’s valid. In the case of the fake device provided to Macwelt, when the serial number was entered it was immediately identified as invalid, exposing the device as a fake.

If you haven’t got the packaging, you can instead find the serial number inside the charging case. You might need a magnifying glass to read it, though. You can also see the serial number if you open Settings > Bluetooth on your iPhone and tap the Info button beside your AirPods.

Unfortunately, this check doesn’t always work because some forgers use serial numbers that are recognized by Apple. So we’ll continue our investigation.

At first glance, fake AirPods can seem perfectly fine, with a complete set of plausible-looking accessories inside the box. When the team at Macwelt got their hands on counterfeit AirPods via a reader they found all the usual documents and instructions, a cable and more.

However, the enclosed instructions immediately raised suspicions. The print quality was lower than expected and the text was blurred.

To check the firmware on your AirPods, grab your iPhone and go to Settings > Bluetooth. Tap the Info button beside your AirPods. The firmware is the number listed next to Version.

The AirPods firmware doesn’t change very often. The latest versions are listed on Apple’s website. At time of writing, they’re as follows:

• AirPods Pro 2 with MagSafe Charging Case (USB-C): 7B21
• AirPods Pro 2 with MagSafe Charging Case (Lightning): 7B21
• AirPods Pro 1: 6F21
• AirPods 4: 7B20
• AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation: 7B20
• AirPods 3: 6F21
• AirPods 2: 6F21
• AirPods 1: 6.8.8
• AirPods Max (USB-C): 7A291
• AirPods Max (Lightning): 6F21

If the version on your AirPods is similar to the above but a lower number, it’s possible they simply haven’t updated to the latest firmware yet; you can’t force them to do this but there are ways to encourage the process. But the firmware on our fake AirPods was listed as 0A2097, a designation Apple has never used. That’s a huge red flag.

Fake AirPods won’t contain one of Apple’s proprietary W1, H1, or H2 chips.

• The W1 features inside the 1st-gen AirPods.
• The 2nd- and 3rd-gen AirPods and the 1st-gen AirPods Pro have H1 chips.
• The 2nd-gen AirPods Pro and 4th gen AirPods have H2 chips.

These chips manage the Bluetooth connection; they’re the reason why AirPods can switch between devices seamlessly and sync instantly with an iPhone, iPad or Mac. When you open the charging case, a nearby iPhone should immediately recognize and connect to the AirPods. If this doesn’t happen, that’s a strong hint that your AirPods are fake.

In addition, the H1 adds the ability to launch Siri by voice and Audio Sharing, while the H2 adds active noise cancellation and the Adaptive Transparency mode. Without these chips, none of these features will be available to you.

When we opened our iPhone near the fake AirPods, a message appeared. But there was a giveaway that something was wrong: an instruction to press the button on the back of the case in order for the earphones to be recognized. Legitimate AirPods don’t require additional key presses.

We also found that switching between a Mac and iPhone was only possible via the Bluetooth menu, and there were also problems recognizing the microphone. All of these problems point to there being no Apple chip inside.

As we’ve seen, it’s one thing to make headphones that look like AirPods or AirPods Pro, but something else to replicate the way genuine AirPods work.

Depending on the quality of the counterfeiting, a fake pair of earbuds may support some AirPods functions. We were able, for example, to carry out the fit test for ear inserts on our fake device. Strangely, however, the test always succeeded. Even when we wore just one of the earphones, the optimal fit of both earphones was certified. That’s a clue that something is wrong.

The fake AirPods weren’t suitable for phone calls, suggesting that the counterfeiters had saved money by skimping on the microphone. The audio quality was mediocre, lacking clarity and bass. The 3D audio function was absent and wireless charging did not work either.

We also found that we could activate Active Noise Cancellation and switch on the Transparency mode on the fake AirPods, but quickly noticed that turning on these ‘features’ made no difference to the way the earphones behaved.

Note that it won’t always be this obvious. Some victims of fake AirPods scams have reported that the devices have a functioning noise cancellation feature. Just because they’re fake AirPods, that doesn’t mean they can’t contain real microphones. As with all the steps here, we’re checking multiple criteria and drawing a conclusion based on all the data.

Look closely at a pair of fake AirPods and you’re likely to notice manufacturing defects. In our example, the small plastic cover on the outside fell off after a few minutes of use. The cap at the bottom of the stems was also relatively easy to pull off to reveal the inside.

According to teardowns posted online by iFixit, we should see a small high-quality microphone here. Instead, there was a circuit board with the label dxc-t18U8… and no microphone, which explains why these AirPods were no good when making phone calls. They use the speaker as a microphone.