Possibly counterfeit Chinese iPhone XR? Storage size larger than iPhone XR ever shipped with.

[steiney]

My wife's mother and father are visiting us from China. Her father has an iPhone XR he bought in China. Everything about it physically looks completely legit. My wife also has an iPhone purchased refurbished from Amazon in America. The two phones are physically identical, other than the case color.

However, her father's iPhone XR reports itself as having 512 GB of storage. I have searched high and low online and can't find any mention of any iPhone XR model that ever had 512 GB of storage, which is leading me to believe his iPhone XR is either counterfeit or has been modified somehow, but I can't wrap my head around a possible modification because it doesn't seem like it would make economic sense for someone to source used iPhones, modify them to increase their storage size, then sell them as used iPhones at the value of a used iPhone of a given model with a lesser storage capacity.

And to manufacture an iPhone that is such a perfect match to a real iPhone seems like it would cost more than it costs Apple to make legitimate iPhones at enormous scale.

So, I can't make heads or tails of this situation, and am wondering what folks here think. I've included a screenshot of the "About" page in the Settings app.

 

[JPack]

Consumers in China buy 64GB or 128GB models and upgrade the NAND all the time. In the U.S., this is unheard of because shops lack the skill and parts. In China, many people work in electronics supply, manufacturing, and repair. This means a good chunk of the population are proficient with board level repairs. It's also why virtually all repair tools, software, and parts are designed and made in China. The entire industry is there, so prices are low and repair knowledge, access, and availability is high.

It might not make economic sense today to upgrade the XR storage, but it probably did when the first owner of that XR bought it in 2018.

 

[steiney]

Wow! That's very interesting. Thank you very much for that information and insight.

 

[JPack]

Here’s a video showing a similar upgrade on iPhone 11, which like XR was never sold with 512GB.

 

[steiney]

That is absolutely fascinating! It is amazing that it is economical to do all that work to upgrade the storage capacity. They even used a lathe to mill out a larger area for the larger NAND chip! Amazing. Thank you very much for sharing this video with me. I really appreciate it.

 

[Iwavvns]

My wife's mother and father are visiting us from China. Her father has an iPhone XR he bought in China. Everything about it physically looks completely legit. My wife also has an iPhone purchased refurbished from Amazon in America. The two phones are physically identical, other than the case color.

However, her father's iPhone XR reports itself as having 512 GB of storage. I have searched high and low online and can't find any mention of any iPhone XR model that ever had 512 GB of storage, which is leading me to believe his iPhone XR is either counterfeit or has been modified somehow, but I can't wrap my head around a possible modification because it doesn't seem like it would make economic sense for someone to source used iPhones, modify them to increase their storage size, then sell them as used iPhones at the value of a used iPhone of a given model with a lesser storage capacity.

And to manufacture an iPhone that is such a perfect match to a real iPhone seems like it would cost more than it costs Apple to make legitimate iPhones at enormous scale.

So, I can't make heads or tails of this situation, and am wondering what folks here think. I've included a screenshot of the "About" page in the Settings app.

1. I’m betting those counterfeit iPhones are running a version of Android with a custom skin to make them look like iOS. Go to Settings > General > About and Setting > General > Software Update and there will likely be more clues. Android is free, so the manufacturer of those counterfeit iPhones don’t have the same investment as Apple does regarding R&D.

2. Not all NAND chips are equal, the lower quality chips will be cheaper and may not last as long before hitting their write limits. Also, it is trivial to tweak the software to have the storage report a higher capacity than it actually has.

3. I’m betting those counterfeit iPhones are powered by Snapdragon chips rather than Apple A-series chips.

4. A counterfeit iPhone may well be enough for someone who just wants a cheap iPhone clone, but may present issues when attempting to seamlessly integrate with other Apple products.

I wouldn’t trust a counterfeit iPhone.. you never know what data the software is “reporting home” with.

 

[JPack]

That is absolutely fascinating! It is amazing that it is economical to do all that work to upgrade the storage capacity. They even used a lathe to mill out a larger area for the larger NAND chip! Amazing. Thank you very much for sharing this video with me. I really appreciate it.

Indeed, steady hands and patience are needed for this job! Labor in China is less expensive including the domestically produced tools. Apple charges $300 for 1TB upgrade but the actual chip from Kioxia or SanDisk costs less than $100.

The video shows the operator milling out the existing 128GB chip because it's safer compared to desoldering it and salvaging something worth $10. Using a hot air gun to heat up the 128GB chip risks dislodging the surrounding capacitors, which are extremely tiny.

 

[steiney]

1. I’m betting those counterfeit iPhones are running a version of Android with a custom skin to make them look like iOS. Go to Settings > General > About and Setting > General > Software Update and there will likely be more clues. Android is free, so the manufacturer of those counterfeit iPhones don’t have the same investment as Apple does regarding R&D.

2. Not all NAND chips are equal, the lower quality chips will be cheaper and may not last as long before hitting their write limits. Also, it is trivial to tweak the software to have the storage report a higher capacity than it actually has.

3. I’m betting those counterfeit iPhones are powered by Snapdragon chips rather than Apple A-series chips.

4. A counterfeit iPhone may well be enough for someone who just wants a cheap iPhone clone, but may present issues when attempting to seamlessly integrate with other Apple products.

I wouldn’t trust a counterfeit iPhone.. you never know what data the software is “reporting home” with.

Thank you for that information! This is definitely a legitimate iPhone, though. I integrates with AirPods and is able to interface with Apple's iCloud.

Indeed, steady hands and patience are needed for this job! Labor in China is less expensive including the domestically produced tools. Apple charges $300 for 1TB upgrade but the actual chip from Kioxia or SanDisk costs less than $100.

The video shows the operator milling out the existing 128GB chip because it's safer compared to desoldering it and salvaging something worth $10. Using a hot air gun to heat up the 128GB chip risks dislodging the surrounding capacitors, which are extremely tiny.

That all makes sense. Very interesting! If it were that inexpensive to get that work done in the U.S., everyone would just buy an iPhone with base-level storage capacity and have it upgraded. And then Apple would stop charging so much for storage upgrades. Oh well!