Fake Apple Watches on sale in China

Updated



At the launch in San Francisco on Monday, Apple announced that the much-anticipated Apple Watch is due to go on sale on 24 April.

However, with over a month to go to get the real deal, fake versions of the watch are already being produced and sold at Huaqiangbei Market in China, CNN Money reports.

The knockoff products are not just being sold at the market; it seems they are available to the whole nation online.

The Chinese counterfeiters, or 'shanzhai', are producing the watches at high speed and it's not just the Apple Watch that has been a victim of the fake products.

Laurent Le Pen, founder and CEO of smartwatch maker, Omate has had his own problems with the counterfeiters and told CNN Money: "The speed at which they bring copies on the market is amazing."

He added: "The hardware is not the big challenge – the hard part is on the software and the application side."

According to CNN Money, the majority of the fakes are being run on an Android operating system which is made to look like the iconic Apple interface.

There is one major difference between these and the real thing however; the Apple Watch will set you back somewhere between £299 and £13,500 whereas the Chinese fakes are retailing at 250 to 500 yuan (£25 to £50).

A major feature of the new watches that was announced at Monday's launch was the battery life.

Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, has said that the watch's battery will last around 18 hours, the BBC reported.

The watch will be released in three different categories with two different sizes also available, the Daily Mail reports.

The Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport and Apple Watch Edition will all be available in either 1.4 inch or 1.7 inch.



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