20 Tech Knockoffs That Will Leave You Dumbfounded

Think of all the popular hardware brands in technology right now. The Apples and Sonys that have the distinct honor of being considered a luxury brand. Everyone wants one and anyone who’s anyone would buy and flaunt them to their peers, creating an appeal. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford them and that’s where knockoffs come to the rescue.

These knockoffs were made as a copy of the original, sometimes using the logo and design of the original. Sometimes they get it right and many might not notice. Often at times, they get it wrong. Very wrong, in fact, to the point of hilarity. Here are 20 of the most amusing knockoffs of popular tech brands that you may have seen.

Spoiler alert: Apple gets ripped off a lot.

PolyStation

This Sony Playstation knockoff is actually a Famiclone, a hardware clone of the Nintendo Entertainment System. If you open the CD tray, you’ll actually get a cartridge slot.

(Image Source: Wikipedia)

Blueberry

Obviously this Blueberry is neither blue nor a berry.

(Image Source: College Humor)

PX 3600

A mad experiment to hybridize a PS3 and XBox 360, and it came out so very wrong. The controllers won’t vibrate. The disc tray won’t open, which doesn’t matter since there’s no disc drive in the thing. And worst of all it can only play pre-installed games. And not very good ones, I might add.

(Image Source: Buzzfeed)

Wiwi

If saying "I like playing with my Wii" makes you uncomfortable, how about the Wiwi for extra social awkwardness? Like many knockoff game consoles, it too still relies on cartridges.

(Image Source: Tom’s Hardware Italy)

Action Pad

If your iPad isn’t cutting it anymore, perhaps it’s time to look into the Action Pad. Don’t be fooled though as it runs on Android. And honestly, if the Taiwanese Steve Jobs with angel wings and halo can’t sell you this, I don’t think anyone can.

CECT m188

The eventual endgame for Apple and their fetish for miniaturization is to create a phone so small it might as well be called the iPhone Invisa. The Chinese, however, are beating them to it.

(Image Source: Dvice)

Teso Blackbook Air

As far as knockoffs go, this one is drop dead gorgeous and could even be mistaken for the real thing. If it weren’t black or made of plastic, that is.

(Image Source: CIO)

Fake Apple Store

If you think China’s copycat machine weren’t blatant enough, here’s a fake Apple store that looks and feels exactly like the real thing. Spotted by a Westerner in Kunming, the whole store has everything down; from the layout, wood furniture to even the employee uniform. It’s not licensed by Apple but for most residents, if it looks and quacks like an overpriced computer, it is an overpriced computer.

Blockberry

It took a lot to convince President Obama to give up his Blackberry. Now he’s addicted to another type of berry, the Blockberry, as seen in this advertisement where his photo is used to promote the phone.

(Image Source: phoneArena)

PCP Station

This thing barely qualifies as a game console, with the ‘games’ being swappable LCD cartridges you add to the handheld.

(Image Source: Arcade Sushi)

Red Star OS

A software knockoff this time around. This North Korean Linux distro was made to look almost exactly like the Mac GUI. Kim Jong Un is obviously a Mac fan. You can even find pictures of him using a Mac online. Because Best Korea only copies from the best.

(Image Source: Wikipedia)

Sciphone A5

Looking like a hybrid of Apple’s Mighty Mouse and iPhone, it is neither mighty nor a mouse. It’s probably not even a very good phone, running some no-named OS.

(Image Source: Complex)

CoolK07

Remember the Palm Pre? I still haven’t forgiven HP for what they did to them but there’s no denying that they were never very popular compared to iOS and Android. That doesn’t mean that it didn’t get any love from the Chinese copy machine, as evident by the CoolK07, which copies the design of the Pre.

(Image Source: ChannelPartner)

MiniPolyStation3

Want to have a handheld console with the power of a PS3? Sorry to break it to you but that’s not going to happen. But you can settle for the next best thing with the MiniPolyStation3, a small, portable knockoff console that looks like a PS3, complete with LCD screen. And it only requires 3 AA batteries to operate.

(Image Source: Destructoid)

i-dong

The less we talk about the i-dong, the better. All joking aside, it’s actually a competent game console similar to the Wii, using infrared lights to detect the controller. You can even connect it to your PC. It does, however, look eerily similar to the Microsoft Kinect.

(Image Source: Nikkei Technology)

iPhoho6

Can’t wait for the latest iPhone to come out? Why not get the iPhoho6? It even has an Apple logo shaped home button for twice the Apple logo goodness.

(Image Source: TechCrunch)

HP Spectre One

Proving that the Americans are just as good at copying stuff, the HP Spectre One looks incredibly similar to the design language of a certain fruit company.

(Image Source: Apple Insider)

Chuwi PadMini

Like the look of the iPad Mini but detest Apple and iOS to the point that you won’t even look at an actual Apple product? Then the PadMini is for you! Except for a few differences, mainly a missing home button and extra ports, the PadMini looks incredibly similar to an iPad Mini, except for the fact it runs Android. And if you think this isn’t amusing enough, check out their website, which is a mishmash of Apple’s website design and hilariously broken English.

(Image Source: Chuwi)

Samsung

Samsung creates knockoff Apple products. Regardless of what the Android fanboys may lead you to believe, this is very obvious, with Samsung copying the user interface, advertising designs and hardware of Apple’s products. I can already hear the Samsung fanboys screaming at the top of their lungs at me, so here’s some proof to the claim.

(Image Source: Nicklazilla)

Xiaomi

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and that’s no more true than with Xiaomi. In fact, they’re more blatant than Samsung when copying Apple, even copying the presentation style, down to the black turtleneck and ‘one more thing’. Take a look at this TechCrunch article to see how hilariously similar the products are. And this Mi Pad commercial that looks like something Apple would make.