Don’t be fooled by the ‘working’ iPhone 8 clones [Video]

The official unveiling of the iPhone 8 is still several months away but that hasn’t stopped the Chinese manufacturers from producing their usual clone hardware in advance.

EverythingApplePro got his hands on one of the ‘working’ clones which have surfaced online in the last couple of weeks, and it really doesn’t take much to notice how bad they really are. Video of the device in action after the jump …

It’s worth pointing out upfront that these working clones are not a very good indicator of what the final device will look like at all.

Although they have the rear vertical camera arrangement and approximate proportions, the details are far from accurate (especially the front of the device, no bezel-less screen to be seen here).

For reliable leaks regarding what the iPhone 8 is going to look like, refer to these earlier dummy units. These are based off schematics which show the full-screen front, stainless steel and glass chassis and minimal bezels (with a cutout for the camera and earpiece) we expect Apple to actually announce.

The clones in the EverythingApplePro video are funny in that they are actually working hardware, they (poorly) run a version of Android which is themed to look like the iOS 10 interface. The likeness is only skin deep of course as performance is mediocre and many of the features just aren’t implemented. The camera quality also leaves much to be desired.

The front of the phone makes no attempt to recreate the rumored bezel-less appearance of the iPhone 8. The top and bottom chins are very much present and the screen appears to be the usual 4.7-inch display dimensions.

Weirdly, it does lack the virtual home button … instead adding an invisible capacitive button where the bottom chin resides. Again, the real iPhone 8 will not look this as the screen will stretch to the edges of the chassis with 4mm bezels on the left, bottom and right sides.

The clone’s packaging is a decent attempt at an Apple box with San Francisco fonts and a picture of what the back of the iPhone 8 could look like featuring the vertical dual camera system. Of course, we expect the real iPhone 7s and 8 models to feature glass backs which means there is no need for the antenna bands.

Overall, the clone looks mostly like an iPhone 7 with a fake dual camera rather than an attempt at the expected iPhone 8 design. Perhaps most notably this clone replicates a (PRODUCT)Red iPhone 7 exterior. In fact, variants of these Chinese clones are appearing in a handful of color SKUs …

However, we do not expect the iPhone 8 to actually be offered in these colors. Reliable analyst KGI’s Ming-Chi Kuo previously reported that the iPhone 8 will be available in fewer color options than iPhone 7, to maintain its ’boutique branding’. In fact, it’s not ridiculous to think that the OLED iPhone may only come in a single color at launch — black.

Some sites have been reporting photos of these clones as the ‘real deal’ — indicators of what Apple has in store for the 2017 phones — but it’s plainly clear that is not the case, so don’t be fooled by them.

We are expecting Apple to officially announce the OLED iPhone 8 and two iPhone 7s devices at a media event in September (final marketing names unknown of course). Recent reports indicate that the iPhone 8 may not be available to customers until October due to production delays.