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Brand Name iPhone cases vs Knock Offs Who will win?

C

ChinaAzzi

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 16, 2011
138
0
Shenzhen, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Brisbane
Over the last few weeks I been educated by this forum. It seems that everyone here knows there are knockoff and pirated products out there at a fraction of the cost but the majority of Macrumor members seem to not be interested and are more excited by the release and discussion of brand name products. This is encouraging and good for all I think. Maybe price is not everything. A good friend of mine told me that people with money in Shenzhen don’t go to the markets to buy a bumper for 4RMB but prefer to go to a stylish Apple retailer and pay 160RMB for the same product. I say the same product because I know some of the retailers in China and they buy from the market. The long term of this is still an unknown but at this moment I think the majority of people here will continue to buy premium products at a premium price even if they they know they cost less than a dollar to make. Do you agree? :)
 
Kindly saying, can we please stop arguing and talking about chinese ripoffs and what not. Oh, and the people that keep saying too buy chinese OtterBox's and other brands instead of the real thing, can you pretty please with sugar on top please stop? This is a forums about iPhone accessories and to talk about them, not to say that YOUR knockoffs are better than the real thing and will save you lots of money.

Thanks. :)
 
Austin M. said:
Kindly saying, can we please stop arguing and talking about chinese ripoffs and what not. Oh, and the people that keep saying too buy chinese OtterBox's and other brands instead of the real thing, can you pretty please with sugar on top please stop? This is a forums about iPhone accessories and to talk about them, not to say that YOUR knockoffs are better than the real thing and will save you lots of money.

Thanks. :)
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why post to complain about a thread? ... just move onto something that has interest to you.

there are tons of useless threads ... even the ones about iPhone accessories :cool:
 
Apple OC said:
why post to complain about a thread? ... just move onto something that has interest to you.

there are tons of useless threads ... even the ones about iPhone accessories :cool:
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I'm not complaining, it's just I have seen a lot of posts lately about chinese manufactures and their knockoffs by the same people, but oh well, I'll move on. :)
 
I'll buy a brand name over a knock off any day of the week. Knock offs are cheap for a reason, the quality usually sucks. They steal someone else's ideas and r&d, and then manufacture with the cheapest materials they can find. Typically the customer service is lacking also, especially in the warranty department.
 
Frankly speaking, sometimes I doubt the validity of reviews on the same product, for example an Otterbox Defender.

Some will have very good reviews and claims that the built is good, whereas some will complain that it's made of inferior plastic and silicone. Some bought from Otterbox direct, while others bought from other alternate sources which is usually so much cheaper.

Just my 2 cents thoughts.
 
Peraonally I liked the good old days when the price of a case was not an issue as long as it was from $19.99 to $49.99. Everyone was focused on the design and function. The Chinese did not know what was going on overseas and we had the market to ourselves. Lets face it, it won’t kill us to pay a few dollars more for a case and those extra dollars do encourage new products. :)
 
I've made several orders to sw-box.com and have been extremely pleased with their cases. Sure you can call their bumpers knock offs, but they come in unique colors not offered by apple. Their carbon fiber skin set is fantastic too.
 
UCLAKoolman said:
I've made several orders to sw-box.com and have been extremely pleased with their cases. Sure you can call their bumpers knock offs, but they come in unique colors not offered by apple. Their carbon fiber skin set is fantastic too.
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Their bumper cases are bought in the Shenzhen market and they are very good quality. You would not be able to tel the difference between them and the ones that Apple sells. And yes the China discount model of business is here to stay but I would be willing to wager that the majority of bumper cases sold are for $20 to $30 dollars and not the China price of $2 to $3. It is just the nature of the beast. We consumers seem happier to pay more for the same thing if we know that it is sold in a polished store setting. There is something special about buying a Starbucks coffee for $2 even though we know we can make it at home for 10 cents. :)
 
UCLAKoolman said:
I've made several orders to sw-box.com and have been extremely pleased with their cases. Sure you can call their bumpers knock offs, but they come in unique colors not offered by apple. Their carbon fiber skin set is fantastic too.
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I agree, i ordered a few bumpers for $3 each from sw box and they are just as good as the apple bumpers. i have purchased a few cheap cases in my time and i find then to be mostly good. I don't have a problem buying brand cases if they are good but many times they all end up with some type of issue, Flaking, peeling, stretching, cracking too easy.. etc. bottom line some knockoffs are good some brand name cases are bad.
 
kicko said:
I agree, i ordered a few bumpers for $3 each from sw box and they are just as good as the apple bumpers. i have purchased a few cheap cases in my time and i find then to be mostly good. I don't have a problem buying brand cases if they are good but many times they all end up with some type of issue, Flaking, peeling, stretching, cracking too easy.. etc. bottom line some knockoffs are good some brand name cases are bad.
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The Shezhen market has changed a lot since I worked it a few years ago. The quality of most of the cases sold there are very good because if they don't have good cases they are out of business. That is why major brands are concerned. You only have to read this article about Otter Box losing money because of China knock offs and you will understand why. But after spending a few weeks here I think they don't need to worry so much because the majority of people want to buy their product at full price and that is a good thing.
 
ChinaAzzi said:
The Shezhen market has changed a lot since I worked it a few years ago. The quality of most of the cases sold there are very good because if they don't have good cases they are out of business. That is why major brands are concerned. You only have to read this article about Otter Box losing money because of China knock offs and you will understand why. But after spending a few weeks here I think they don't need to worry so much because the majority of people want to buy their product at full price and that is a good thing.
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Interesting article. I think if the Chinese start opening up retail stores with low prices then companies like Otter Box could have serious problems.
 
I purchased a nock off brand case from china for my blackberry tour. This thing was indestructable. Dropped the phone god knows how many times, never was harmed. It was made out of TPU Resin, not some ****** ass rubber that usually tends to tear. Now I just started looking for a case for my new Verizon Iphone 4 and did not see still many of those resin cases. I did see americans were purchasing the same case i bought from china and selling it for about 4x what i paid for it.

I however did not go the chinese route this time as I found a person on the bay selling a brand new speck pixelskinHD case fore dirt cheap (still in box) so I picked one of those up.

Now i know you dont think these companies make their cases right here in the states right? The fact is a good majority of them actually have a company over seas (usually in china) making them and what do you think the chinese factories do with the molds they produce? The sell them without the logo for about 90% the price as whole sale "generic" cases . So the whole idea of what is better, or who will win, will be the cases that give the best protection for the cheapest dollar.
 
FMD:. said:
I purchased a nock off brand case from china for my blackberry tour. This thing was indestructable. Dropped the phone god knows how many times, never was harmed. It was made out of TPU Resin, not some ****** ass rubber that usually tends to tear. Now I just started looking for a case for my new Verizon Iphone 4 and did not see still many of those resin cases. I did see americans were purchasing the same case i bought from china and selling it for about 4x what i paid for it.

I however did not go the chinese route this time as I found a person on the bay selling a brand new speck pixelskinHD case fore dirt cheap (still in box) so I picked one of those up.

Now i know you dont think these companies make their cases right here in the states right? The fact is a good majority of them actually have a company over seas (usually in china) making them and what do you think the chinese factories do with the molds they produce? The sell them without the logo for about 90% the price as whole sale "generic" cases . So the whole idea of what is better, or who will win, will be the cases that give the best protection for the cheapest dollar.
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For those who experienced China low prices will most likely continue to buy because the quality is good and in some cases so good you could not tell the difference, I am included in that group. If you put both cases in front of all Macrumors members and tell them the price they will most likely buy the lower priced case. But most of the China selling is done online and because of this I say that the majority of people will buy the brand because they just don't know or can trust what is sold online from across the pond. :)
 
ChinaAzzi said:
For those who experienced China low prices will most likely continue to buy because the quality is good and in some cases so good you could not tell the difference, I am included in that group. If you put both cases in front of all Macrumors members and tell them the price they will most likely buy the lower priced case. But most of the China selling is done online and because of this I say that the majority of people will buy the brand because they just don't know or can trust what is sold online from across the pond. :)
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This is true, that or they are just too impatient they wont want to wait 15-20 days to receive it either ;)
 
FMD:. said:
This is true, that or they are just too impatient they wont want to wait 15-20 days to receive it either ;)
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Sometimes it is faster than that. Here is a tread I started to check how long it would take a China discount company to ship a package from Shenzhen to Denmark. It only took 7 days. The shipping company was SwissPost and here is the tracking information for that package. :)

Here is another tread where I compare the shipping of 2 packages sent to the same address in Canada. One was sent by Hong Kong Registered Air Mail and the other by Swisspost. Both have not arrived yet but it will give you some information.
 
Low price going to win. People cannot buy for high money when seeing low price. Then tell friends and they to buy low price.
 
There are brand name cases which are total crap. And there are many knock offs which are total crap too. There you go.
 
Brand name vs knockoff

The brand name normally has a one year warranty associated with the products. The knockoff has no warranty and made with inferior parts. Unless you like cheap stuff that look like the brand name then you deserve what you get.
 
For my iPhone 3G, I only bought an Incipio Feather and a TON of eBay knockoffs.. The knockoffs usually broke within a week or so, and the Feather lasted me the entire 2 years I had the device.

For the iPhone 4, I've bought a few knockoffs, but sorry, their quality sucks a ton They all have fit and finish issues and are made of complete crap. I'll pay More for a brand name case anyday if it means I get a quality product. Same reason why so many people buy macbooks instead of random windows laptops, you pay extra, but you get a great quality product
 
techdude6693 said:
For my iPhone 3G, I only bought an Incipio Feather and a TON of eBay knockoffs.. The knockoffs usually broke within a week or so, and the Feather lasted me the entire 2 years I had the device.

For the iPhone 4, I've bought a few knockoffs, but sorry, their quality sucks a ton They all have fit and finish issues and are made of complete crap. I'll pay More for a brand name case anyday if it means I get a quality product. Same reason why so many people buy macbooks instead of random windows laptops, you pay extra, but you get a great quality product
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The people you buy from buy and sell crap. When they buy product they reduce the price by asking the factory to make the product from low grade material. They use the same mold but of course the result is going to be garbage. That is why you have to know who you are buying from. But that again gives you a good reason to buy brand because you know they stand behind the product if it brakes they will replace it and go after the factory. But if the owners or staff of the brand are not in China watching the production the factory can change the material to increase their profit and often do just that. A plastic case can be made from 60% regrinde which is waste plastic used again. The look will be ok by if you do a bend test it will snap. Silicone can be mixed with low grade silicone. An easy test is if you have a translucent silicone case is take a small area and stretch it. If you see white in the silicone your case is made from low grade silicone, the more white the lower the grade. The reason the factory uses it is to save cost in production because it is easier to work with low grade silicone and of course the material is going to cost less too. They charge the company they are manufacturing the product for the same price as for good silicone. So many things you have to watch out for when you are walking in the Chinese factory mine fields.
:)
 
ChinaAzzi said:
The people you buy from buy and sell crap. When they buy product they reduce the price by asking the factory to make the product from low grade material. They use the same mold but of course the result is going to be garbage. That is why you have to know who you are buying from. But that again gives you a good reason to buy brand because you know they stand behind the product if it brakes they will replace it and go after the factory. But if the owners or staff of the brand are not in China watching the production the factory can change the material to increase their profit and often do just that. A plastic case can be made from 60% regrinde which is waste plastic used again. The look will be ok by if you do a bend test it will snap. Silicone can be mixed with low grade silicone. An easy test is if you have a translucent silicone case is take a small area and stretch it. If you see white in the silicone your case is made from low grade silicone, the more white the lower the grade. The reason the factory uses it is to save cost in production because it is easier to work with low grade silicone and of course the material is going to cost less too. They charge the company they are manufacturing the product for the same price as for good silicone. So many things you have to watch out for when you are walking in the Chinese factory mine fields.
:)
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Most people wouldn't know that there's only certain vendors you should buy from, its always a hit or miss situation. I can tell you that most people who would go on ebay will buy something because it looks good in the picture. There's no way of know how it actually is. If you buy brand name and something is wrong, the company replaces it. Plus you can find reviews of brand name cases all over the web to know if its right for you
 
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