Fake Samsung Galaxy S III already available online

Fake versions of the recently launched Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone are already available online.

Samsung only introduced its flagship smartphone and Apple iPhone challenger in June but fake versions are already available. The copy costs $209 (€170), less than half the price of a genuine Galaxy S III without a contract, and looks, at first glance, like an accurate replica of the original.

Both share a very similar facade but the fake version is notably thicker. Samsung is a leader in smartphone technology and has managed to make the Galaxy S III 8.6mm thick. The fake, in contrast, is 9.2mm thick, despite lacking the computing power of the Samsung smartphone.

Product specifications for the fake fall well below the original and are more akin to the Galaxy S I, introduced by Samsung in 2010. Despite this lack of computing power a YouTube video, which has now been taken offline, showed the phone working smoothly and quickly loading apps.

Online discussions about the fake show there is a degree of consumer interest in so called ‘clone phones’. The knockoff Galaxy S III is manufactured by China-based HDC, a company with a history of introducing fake smartphones shortly after the original is launched.