How to Spot Fake Galaxy S6!

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If you have been following HighOnAndroid.com for awhile now, you probably remember when I ordered a Galaxy Note 4 and received a fake Note 4.    Until then, I never knew such fake phones existed.

Well, the good news is that I eventually got my refund on my fake Note 4 but since then, I have heard from many of you guys who have gotten ripped off by buying a fake Note 4.

With Galaxy S6, the fake S6 clone was actually made available even before the launch of real Galaxy S6.  For those of you who shop on eBay, Craigslist, on the streets, or at your local mom-and-pop store, you may want to know how to spot a fake Galaxy S6 so you don’t get ripped off.

These Chinese companies making fake phones are making millions of dollars with these fake clones.  If you don’t know, you may be their next victim.  I don’t want you to cry if that ever happens to you or ask me to root a fake phone, so here’s how to spot a fake S6:

First, the box color is different.  You will find a beige colored box instead of the regular white box.  Also the box itself has a tab that encloses the box while the fake one doesn’t.

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Second, the back of the box will show model number of “SM-G920”, which is a model number that does not exist.

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Upon comparing the real S6 with the fake S6, you will notice that the hole for the nano-SIM slot is on top for the real S6 versus on bottom for the fake S6.

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While the real Galaxy S6 flash has a lens in it, the fake one doesn’t and all you see is a yellow circle like shown below:

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On the back of the phone, the real Galaxy S6 has “Galaxy S6” imprinted while the fake S6 doesn’t.

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On the bottom of the phone, it’s very hard to tell the real Galaxy S6 from the fake Galaxy S6 but if you look at it from an angle, you will see red colors inside the micro-USB charging port for the fake Galaxy S6.

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When you power on the fake Galaxy S6, you will be able to clearly see the actual pixels as the resolution is probably only 720P HD while the real Galaxy S6 has many times more resolution and you cannot see the actual pixels with your naked eye.

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In Settings->About Phone, you will notice that the fake Galaxy S6 has model number of “SM-G920F”.  Now, this is actually a real S6 model number but most eBayers selling the fake model will try to trick you with a screenshot like shown below.  If you have any doubt, make sure you have them send you a photo of the right side.

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The fake Galaxy S6 also does not support HSPA+/3G nor 4G LTE.  You will only get edge speeds so it’s probably not a good daily driver nor do I recommend buying one as it will probably break after a month of use.

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Also the buttons on the fake Galaxy S6 light up in blue instead of white.

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A real Galaxy S6 has an ODIN download mode, which you can access by holding down Volume Up, Center Home, and Power buttons.

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A fake Galaxy S6 will give you the following menu in Chinese characters.

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As you can see, although the real and fake Galaxy S6 look nearly identical for an untrained eye, there are vast number of differences if you look a bit more carefully.  So next time you buy a Galaxy S6 and the price seems to good to be true, you are probably buying a fake Galaxy S6.

I know they’ve probably ripped off thousands of people (if not millions) already all over the world so please be aware of the things you have to watch out for when buying a new Galaxy S6.

FYI, most fake phones also have the same Chinese characters when you try to access the ODIN download mode so make sure you check that before buying a phone!

Also see:

How to Spot Fake Note 4!

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Max Lee

Max Lee is the founder of HighOnAndroid.com. Max makes Android tutorials and review videos for people who want to get high on Android over at his YouTube channel and Korean YouTube channel.