Keepin' it real fake, part CCIII: New York Times undercover edition

When the New York Times sent one of its ace reporters to Shenzhen to check out the KIRF scene, they came to a startling conclusion: these things are really quite popular. And why not? Your iPhone might be a terrific device, but is it really $400 better than the Hi-Phone, or the iorgane? Well, it's probably $400 better than the iorgane -- we'll give you that one. The article sites a general lack of concern from the Chinese government, new technology such as Mediatek's turnkey circuit board solution, and a significant drop in the price of parts as reasons that knock-off phones are so prominent in that part of the world. There is also a bit of cultural pride at work, too: "shanzhai" technology, as it's known, is seen as a way to thumb your nose at the big players in the industry and throw some work to your local bandit. That said, we do have to cry foul at the way the paper lumps our beloved Meizu M8 in with the usual assortment of knock-offs: the thing sports nary an Apple (or "organe") on its handsome exterior. Check out the price breakdown on a typical $40 KIRF after the break.

[Thanks, Ben]

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 29th 2009 1:02AM]

china "shanzhai"

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 29th 2009 2:38AM]

Are any of the clones close enough to the real thing that you could dock them to your PC and restore them from itunes? That seems to be the worst problem at the moment. The OSs suck. When you can use the iphone OS on one of these things they will become interesting.
I noticed that iKurt4 got "Low Ranked" for his question. Other than his "3g is the greatest" comment he seemed to ask the same question.

[superhobo Posted Apr 29th 2009 2:43AM]

Oranges>Apples

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 29th 2009 4:29AM]

And this is why I love living in Shenzhen, sometimes when I am bored I head over to Lohu and peep the crap they are selling... Some are so freaking hilarious, others are surprisingly well made

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 29th 2009 12:09PM]

What's that bottom button Do?

[Rigidsquid Posted Apr 29th 2009 11:58PM]

OMG!...they even KIRFed the fricking apple site...hahahahahhahahhah...
They have three models and I can't even tell whats the difference between each of them.
And not only they can't spell orange, they even have the chinese wordings wrong with the 32GB "support"..-__-
are they human at all?

http://www.iorgane.com/

[(Unverified) Posted May 16th 2009 8:53PM]

????????????????????