The iPhone fever is not going away anytime soon. Apple’s rivals and haters have not gotten the point yet. The brand rules the market, not in terms of price but design. The market is swarming with iPhone 7 Plus. It could be the most cloned smartphone so far. The others have taken design cues to say the least, smaller and even bigger brands notwithstanding.
Back in the day when the first iPhone launched, it was very different from the existing smartphones and other companies also tried to differ from Apple’s, such as Google’s Nexus line-up (Pixel line-up known today), as much as possible. The whole idea was to be different from Apple, much of the reason was that people kind of loathed that Apple was so lucky in the market.
However, with Apple’s ever more soaring popularity, a massive shift in manufacturing occurred with many Chinese companies aping the design and features. Below is a list of a few companies who have copied the same fundamental design of the iPhone 7 Plus:
One Plus 5, one of the more famous companies, is also known as ‘Flagship killer.’ It offered much bang for the buck.
Oppo R 11 has the same camera module, same body design, and even the identical colour option as Apple’s.
Other companies which didn’t make the news but also fell for the Apple’s design, include Asus Zenphone 3, Honor V9, Doogee pro, Oukitel U20 Plus, ZTE Nubia Z 17, Umidigi Z pro, Ulaphone Gemini to name a few.
The companies involved in copycat business obviously want to make a quick buck thanks to iPhone’s sales. They clone their products, especially the rear which people see and get deceived. It might sound cliché, but the consumers are desperate to improve their public image. Most people in this region will ‘cheap-out’ on other areas of life just to get an iPhone, which may cost them six or seven months of savings; hence the appetite for the iPhone lookalikes. Obviously, such companies don’t have much to invest in research and development. All they do is spend more on the production line.
When the iPhone 7+ was leaked, it was made fun of. Some complained that it looked like the bender phone. Others doubted that Apple would release something like that. Ironically, everyone followed the copycat mania. The iPhone 8 leaks get the same treatment. It is being laughed at for looking like a traffic light. It is a matter of a month or two to see companies copying the iPhone 8 design as well.
There aren’t many orientations where a dual lens camera can be placed. Still, some companies do manage to come up with their own unique design. For example, the LG G6, some people might say that it looks like an alien with the fingerprint sensor in the middle, but still, it does have a unique look Some Huawei phones also have their own distinct design for a dual lens. The leaked Samsung note 8 also has a unique design for the dual lens.
LG G6
The funny thing to note about these phones is that they are only copying the plus variant, not the smaller iPhone 7. Not that there aren’t any phones like the iPhone 7, there just aren’t as many as the iPhone 7 Plus. I wonder if Apple is mulling over to do something about this situation. If does not, the market will be full of sub-standard clones.
Saalar Ahmad is a student and deeply interested in innovation, renewable technologies and start-ups. He analyzes consumer technologies such as cell phones, TVs and other smart devices like drones and cars etc. He likes to follow biotech, solar, wind power as much as he is curious about space exploration.
