Little Pepper 10 Extreme Edition, ivvi Mate40? Are copycat phones resurrected again?

Recently, Mate40 and 10 Extreme Edition suddenly became popular on Weibo.

Wait, it’s not the Huawei Mate40 and Xiaomi 10 Extreme Edition you thought, but the ivvi Mate40 and Pepper 10 Extreme Edition (currently renamed Pepper X11 Pro).

Yes, you are not dazzled. From the appearance point of view, the design language on the back of ivvi Mate40, Huawei Mate40, Xiaojiajiao X11 Pro and Xiaomi Mi 10 Extreme Edition is almost exactly the same, which looks like real and fake Li Kui.

Zhen? Mate40 and Zhen? 10 Extreme Edition

For some readers, the last time they saw such imitated copycat phones was probably several years ago.

Lei Jun publicly stated last year, "With Xiaomi's participation and promotion, China's copycat phones have been completely eliminated."

But if you search on Pinduoduo and Taobao, you will find that Xiaomi has redefined "annihilation". Counterfeit phones are still rampant everywhere. Whether it is the product name or appearance, the degree of plagiarism is not the most extreme, only more extreme.

Interestingly, in January this year, Xiaolai Pepper founder Wang Xiaoyan officially announced that he had joined the Xiaomi Group and said, "One yuan brings back the beginning, and we will carry on the past and open up the future." On the other hand, Xiaolaijiao also extended its hand to copycats. To Xiaomi.

After shopping around on Pinduoduo and Taobao, I discovered that Xiaojiajiao’s copycat mobile phones not only have a wide range of models, but also have surprisingly high sales.

For example, Pinduoduo shows that 40,000 units of the Pepper X50 Pro, which looks similar to the vivo X50 series, have been sold. If you look at Vivo, you will call it an expert.

The Chili Pepper R40 Pro, whose back is very similar to the Reno 4, sells for 579 yuan, and Pinduoduo shows that it has sold more than 10,000 pieces.

Another example is the Pepper Mate30 Max, which is very similar to Huawei’s Mate30 series from appearance to UI. It sells for 467 yuan and has sold nearly 5,000 units.

The best-selling one is not the Chili Pepper X11 Pro, which is very similar to the Xiaomi Mi 10 Extreme Edition, but the Chili Pepper X9 priced at 369 yuan. This mobile phone seems to have some original designs of Xiaojiajiao, or it is a product that stitches together the features of other mobile phone models. Pinduoduo shows that total sales have exceeded 100,000 units.

Let’s take a look at the ivvi M40, which is known as the “Thousand Yuan Dominant”. It sells for 558 yuan and has a total sales volume of 13,000 units. This back cover design is simply carved out of the same mold as the Huawei Mate40 series. Even the advertising slogan has to be copied, "Flagship with extraordinary performance".

There are more than ten models on sale in ivvi’s flagship store. The best-selling one is the ivvi X12. The name and back cover design may be an attempt to copy the iPhone 12. The price is 524 yuan, and Pinduoduo shows that 17,000 pieces have been sold.

Pepper and ivvi are just the tip of the iceberg in the copycat market. As long as you search for keywords such as "student mobile phone" and "multi-core mobile phone" on Pinduoduo or Taobao, you can see many familiar models, but VOVG, viipoo, ZTE Guardian, Weimi, Milan, etc. are missing. brand.

There are also some familiar brands, such as Gionee, Dovi, Kubi, etc. These brands that dominated in the era of feature phones have also become OEMs for copycat phones.

In addition to the appearance and name of the copycat phones, after two days of shopping in the copycat phone market, I summarized several common features of the copycat phones.

First of all, in terms of chips, copycat mobile phones generally emphasize that they are eight-core, true eight-core, or even claim to be a ten-core processor.

Brands that are more restrained will claim "multi-core processor", trying to make people "unconscious" with a vague introduction.

The two pictures on the left are the introductions of Xiaojiao, and the two pictures on the right are the introductions of ivvi

I have not yet seen any copycat machines with the specific model of the processor (around 500 yuan). ). Some brands will only mark MediaTek/MTK in the parameter list, but the model number is unknown. Individual copycat phones priced at nearly a thousand yuan may use the Snapdragon 855 processor released in 2018, which is its biggest selling point.

What makes me angry is that many brands of knock-off phones label each camera with pixels or focal lengths on the product details page. But actually only one camera works.

Product description of ivvi mobile phone

If you ask customer service, they will first tell you that the camera is real. If pressed, they would lie and say, "One is the main camera, and the others are for auxiliary or fill-in light." It really made me laugh. Those who are unfamiliar with electronic products can easily be misled and deceived.

Very few customer service personnel will tell you outright that only one camera can work and the rest are for decoration.

In most cases, copycat phones will blur the description of the camera on the product details page. For example, in the product introduction of the Pepper P40, the "AI wide-angle three-camera appearance plan" is marked in a very small font. The word "appearance" is very spiritual.

In addition to the camera, the screen is also the "hardest hit area". The so-called high-definition screen, ultra-clear screen, and eye-protection screen are not actually high-definition. If you look carefully at the parameter bar, you will find that they are basically 720P screens. At a size of 6-7 inches, this resolution cannot be called high definition.

The "HD screen" is not high-definition, and the "fast charging" is not fast either. Often, the ultra-fast charging and high-speed fast charging claimed by copycat phones are all false. Some manufacturers will mark the charging power at the bottom of the parameter column. All that can be seen is 5V1A.

The promised fast charge turned out to be five blessings and one security

Back to the appearance, no matter how the back cover of the copycat phone changes, the front face remains the same. "Water drop screen" that changes. This is because the cost of hole-punch screens is relatively high, and water drop screens can lower the cost of copycat phones.

After reading a large number of counterfeit phone introductions, I found that false propaganda has become a standard feature of counterfeit phones. For example, when introducing the lens, ivvi M40 said it has a 21-megapixel super-sensing lens, a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens, an ultra-clear portrait depth-of-field lens, a 4mm macro lens, and OIS optical anti-shake function.

Since I haven’t experienced it in practice, I don’t care whether OIS optical image stabilization is real or not. Just from the customer service explanation and the feedback in the comment area, we can conclude that of the five cameras at the back, only one is working, and the other four are just for decoration.

During the live broadcast, the anchor also used a lot of vague expressions and even expressions that violated advertising laws to introduce the product, such as "This phone has a very strong battery life. It has a large 4000 mAh battery and can be used in standby mode." "Three days"; "This phone has the highest pixels and the clearest photos" and so on.

The consequences of suspected false propaganda are that those who do not understand electronic products and parameters are deceived and deceived. For example, the group price of this ivvi M40 is 555 yuan, which may be half a month’s living expenses for high school students, full-time mothers in lower-tier cities, middle-aged and elderly people and other groups. Spending such money to buy an "e-waste" is really distressing.

As brands such as Redmi, Honor, and OV continue to work hard in the thousand-yuan phone market, people have many "regulars" to choose from when their budget is low. Why are copycat phones still so rampant?

The reasons can be analyzed from two aspects. One is "there is a market" and the other is "there is money to be made".

Even though the prices of major brands’ thousand-yuan phones are constantly falling, there are still not enough models to choose from in the price range of 300-500 yuan. Mainly because while ensuring the user experience, this price range currently cannot achieve the features of high-end models such as high refresh rates, curved screens, and fast charging.

On the other hand, these knock-off models priced under 600 yuan each have "eighteen kinds of skills", including three, four, or even five cameras, curved screens, fast charging, and eight-core processors. According to the description, it seems to be very "cost-effective".

Those who have limited budget and want to buy a "cost-effective" model will inevitably be tempted when they see these exaggerated or false product introductions. Especially for people with no income or low income, spending 500 yuan to buy a mobile phone is already a relatively "luxury" thing, and they want to spend their money on the "edge".

In the comment area of ??copycat phones, there are many farmer friends, factory workers, stay-at-home mothers, etc. These people have specific needs for mobile phones. Although they may not understand the meaning of specific parameters, when they see words such as large screen and large battery, they often think that this mobile phone meets their needs and can better watch TV dramas and watch TikTok. Yin and Kuaishou.

In addition, the AI ??high-definition camera and AI multi-camera claimed by the copycat phone may make full-time mothers think that they can better record the growth of their children, so we can see a lot of "baby-showing" posts in the comment area. user.

Those who have limited budgets and want to play games also have demand for mobile phone performance. Therefore, when they see descriptions of counterfeit machines with eight-core processors and PC-level heat dissipation, they are easily induced and attracted.

The exaggerated introduction of the 488 yuan VOVG mobile phone

Of course, there are still some people who choose copycat phones out of vanity. After all, for 1/10 of the price, you can buy a mobile phone that looks similar to a flagship phone, which can be described as a "cost-effective choice."

In addition to the market, making money is also the reason why copycat phones emerge in endlessly.

Since MediaTek launched the Turnkey Solution in 2004, mobile phone companies can directly cooperate with MediaTek to purchase bundled solutions of chips, mobile phone software platforms, and third-party software. Mobile phone design companies no longer need to develop their own software and hardware, and the threshold and cycle of mobile phone research and development have dropped dramatically, which is equivalent to opening up the market for copycat phones.

Even though MediaTek now wants to build its product image in a high-end direction, it is undeniable that the copycat phones currently on the market still have a very close relationship with MediaTek. It is difficult for MediaTek to get rid of the "copycat" King" label.

These copycat phone companies are like building Lego products. After purchasing the software and hardware, they open a mold and assemble it like the flagship phone of other brands, and then they can put it on the market. This has allowed many people to make a lot of money.

In addition to the little-known brands such as VOVG, viipoo, Weimi, and Milan, the copycat phones we see currently are mostly degenerate works of traditional brands.

We are no strangers to brands such as Gionee and Duowei that are now popular in copycat phones. In the era of feature phones, they were also “all-powerful”. Xiaojiao also followed Xiaomi’s footsteps and became popular for a while.

And ivvi, which looks full of copycat flavor, is also backed by Coolpad. Tianyancha shows that ivvi is a brand owned by Coolpad, and Zhao Liying has been invited to serve as its spokesperson.

Why have these brands fallen to this point? The primary reason is the high cost of self-research. It is obviously unrealistic to design and develop new mobile phones by ourselves when the market share is squeezed and its own technology is not strong. With the help of MediaTek's solution, copycat mobile phones can be manufactured at low cost and making a living will not be a problem.

What is the definition of "copycat"? According to common understanding, copycat refers to the behavior of imitation, copying, plagiarism, and the resulting products.

When we mentioned "shanzhai mobile phones" in the past, we often referred to digital products initiated by private forces, started in small workshops, quickly imitated, and manufactured.

With the decline of the once big brands, today's copycat mobile phones are not limited to the products of small workshops.

To be honest, the existence of copycat phones has promoted the innovation and development of the industry in a sense. For example, the popular features such as dual-SIM dual-standby and large batteries were once regarded as signs of copycat phones. These characteristics are very popular with the people, and copycat machines force "temple products" to pay more attention to their own culture and the humanistic care of their products.

But this must not be a reason to allow the proliferation of copycat phones. Counterfeit mobile phones infringe on intellectual property rights and drive out good money with bad money, which will disrupt the market environment, lead to price wars and even harm the innovation of regular brands.

What I am more concerned about is the quality of the copycat phones, such as whether the safety of the battery can be guaranteed. In addition, many users of copycat phones are students and stay-at-home mothers. When minors are exposed to such low-quality screens, will it cause greater damage to their immature eyes? These questions make me uneasy.

In addition, copycat phones do not value user privacy as much as regular brands. Whether consumers’ personal information and stored data will be leaked is also a big concern.

In the foreseeable future, can copycat phones be eliminated? The answer to this question, I think, may be pessimistic. There is a market and there is money to be made, and copycat manufacturers are like Xiao Qiang who cannot be eliminated. Consumers who are not digitally literate are deceived by exaggerated and false fake phone advertisements, but no one sees or cares about them.

If I were to give an entry point to rectify the chaos of copycats, the first thing would be to standardize advertising. Can the platform take responsibility and review whether the descriptions of these fake mobile phones are true and whether the anchors’ live broadcast language is standardized? When counterfeit mobile phones are exposed for their true colors and no longer cover themselves up with false advertising, some consumers may vote with their feet and embrace legitimate brands.

What we can do is to inform people around us about the risks of copycat mobile phones as much as possible, and help those friends who don’t understand digital products to open their eyes.