Can this Php5,000 iPhone 14 Fake Max satisfy your social climber needs?
Owning the latest iPhone nowadays is considered by many as a symbol of prosperity, style, and above all, maximum clout.
At least here in the Philippines — it can take as long as ten months to own an iPhone 14 Pro Max base model, and that speaks volumes if you spot someone having it in the wild (just to go BGC or Alabang jungle if you want to see one).
But if you want to rise above the ranks momentarily, the sentiment “the goal is to look rich” may resonate with you. It’s true, it’s one thing to be poor, but that’s not an excuse not to look presentable and make an effort to look good.
But there’s a limit: only if you can afford it. The thing with Filipino culture is we tend to spend way over budget even though we don’t have the dough to back it all up.
Counterfeit copies from China are viral here in the Philippines because there’s a healthy demand to look ‘boujee’ and ‘alta’ like you own the latest iPhone 14 Pro Max.
That’s why we outsourced a ‘premium copy’ iPhone 14 Pro Max from Baclaran and see if it can pass as an actual iPhone 14 Pro Max. Of course, we have an authentic iPhone 14 Pro Max to compare it toe-to-toe. And with that out of the way, let’s compare it, shall we?
The fake takes the cake
…At least with the box design. The original iPhone 14 Pro Max box has a flat design with some raised details to accentuate the iPhone’s image. The Fake Max box, however, has some extra sparkles from all over the phone image perimeter, even the iPhone name and Apple logo.
Original box (left), Fake box (right)
The texts below gave it away for the fake box as it contains some questionable writings with slanted lining compared to the perfect original.
Fake (top), Original (bottom)
Even though the real one is much more subtle and akin to the Apple design language, we cannot help but favor the fake box design since it has much to give with those sparkly effects.
Original (left), Fake (right)
And for a Php80,000+ phone, we need all the extra pizzazz to make the experience of buying an iPhone extra special.
The winner of this category is the Fake Max due to its dazzling box art that’s definitely better than the original.
The package isn’t as savage
As usual, we are not thrilled with the iPhone box accessories for both devices. The typical Lightning cable, some paperwork, and the sim ejector in both devices’ pins can be found. The same can’t be said about the Apple stickers, though, as the fake ones don’t have one.
Below: the Fake Max’s accessories
In an unexpected twist, however, the Fake Max has an extra clear case and tempered glass included upon purchase of the Fake Max. We won’t complain, though!
The winner here is the Fake Max as well, surprisingly. 2-0 for the Fake Max.
There is clearly one “Bath Master” here
While the iPhone has barely any protection except for the paper covering for the screen, the iPhone 14 Fake Max is the gift that keeps giving. Not only do we have the paper covering, but a ton of plastic protection all over with bizarre texts such as “bath master three cameras” (which we found hilarious as this is a very broken English translation for waterproof) and more crooked English. There’s also plastic on the side and some rubber gaskets– upping the ante to protect the Fake Max.
the 14 Fake Max’s “bath master” feature
Ironic, as the real deal doesn’t have any plastic to peel or protection to remove, and you’re paying top dollar for it.
Again, the winner is the Fake Max for this round. How is this possible?
It all falls down…
As usual, the original iPhone 14 Pro Max opens up well with no issues because it’s the real deal. So is the iPhone 14 Fake Max, at least on the “hello” section.
After that, it all falls apart as we notice some significant lags and stutters. At first glance, it looks like iOS, and it does until you open the App Store and quickly see that it’s just a reskinned Google Play Store.
the 14 Fake Max’s highly pixelated display
The Dynamic Island function in the 14 Pro Max is one of the most defining features of Apple’s top flagship smartphone: it works well with supported apps, notifications, calls, charging alerts, and many more. The 14 Fake Max, however, only has a goofy-looking pill-shaped hole. What is that— is that a fake camera? Yes, it’s an image of a camera made to look like it has more than one front sensor. Now that’s sketchy.
And just like that, the original 14 Pro Max trumps the 14 Fake Max in shame as clearly, this Php5,000 blunder only looks good outside.
It keeps on going, sadly
The wrath of the 14 Fake Max continued as we dug deeper into the rabbit hole. Firstly, we noticed the subpar display that is very dim; we suspect that this is just a 480p panel widely used in knockoff devices sold on Wish and AliExpress, aptly named ‘Welcome devices” because of their booting up animation which says the “Welcome” message paired with an obnoxious jarring sound.
The tears of disappointment continues
It scored 38,957 points on AnTuTu version 8.3.4 – yes, it is miles away from the latest version, 9.6.0. Please don’t say we didn’t try, but the Fake Max choked during the scroll test, so we need to compromise a bit to give you results. However, searching for the “MediaTek Apple A16 Bionic” chipset’s score (an MT6580 processor). However, if we just managed to work the latest AnTuTu on this imitation, we would likely get an even lower score.
Mobile Legends is unplayable at best, even with the lowest settings and all special effects turned off. Call of Duty, Genshin Impact, and Diablo won’t even install since it probably has 32GB of storage and runs with Android 5.1 Lollipop (which is outdated.) Even My Talking Tom would not work correctly!
the 14 Fake Max had a seizure and produced a slew of “punch holes” lmao (top)
low settings, low resolution — perfect for the 14 Fake Max (bottom)
The perils of forcing this weak chipset into running a heavily skinned iOS-themed Android device have taken their toll, even before we unbox it. In contrast, the iPhone 14 Pro Max runs everything without any problems.
Camera obscura
We mean it literally; the Fake Max’s cameras were so bad they should be obscured from reality forever. Despite looking like it has three cameras, the other two are fakes, and the real one shoots like a low-end 2012 smartphone.
The selfie cam is horrendous and shouldn’t be used ever. While the real iPhone 14 Pro Max produces world-class quality images and video, the same can’t be said with this potato encased inside a fancy iPhone body.
Other redeeming qualities?
Aside from a few goodies and near-faithful reproduction of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, this comes as a complete blunder, even if you want to look cool. You wouldn’t want to look like you are struggling while scrolling with your 14 Fake Max. “That isn’t cool,” Carlito says.
If you want to be a clout chaser for PHP5,000 (around $100), why not flex in style by buying old flagships like the LG V50 ThinQ 5G, Sony Xperia XZ2, Sharp Aquos zero 2, Huawei Mate 30? That way, you can flex differently by sharing a few about the history behind these phones. LG V50 ThinQ has the first 5G phone released mainstream and the first to have a penta-camera setup.
The Sony Xperia XZ2– a powerhouse of a device up to this day with an exciting form factor and sturdy build quality, Sharp’s Aquos Zero 2 being the very first phone with 240Hz refresh rate, and Huawei Mate 30…well, it’s a Huawei device. Also, you can settle for old iPhone models that are still supported, like the iPhone 8, iPhone X Series, and so on.
Conclusion
Yeah, it sucks not to have nice things on the planet– but hey, at least you are honest about yourself and not settling with this atrocious imitation of a device like the 14 Fake Max. Phones, in general, should help us in our lives, not end up being another burden in this post-capitalist society we are all tired of.
See the specs for the iPhone 14 Fake Max: https://unboxdiaries.com/phones/iphone-14-fake-max/
See the specs for the iPhone 14 Pro Max: https://unboxdiaries.com/phones/iphone-14-pro-max/
