Are your AirPods Max Fake or Real?

We are an AirPods Max repair center and have seen many come through our doors. These are the easiest ways to tell if yours are fake or real based off of our experience. If you're looking to get your AirPods Max headphones fixed, you can head Here. 

Buttons

One of the best ways to tell if your AirPods Max are fake or not is by the clickyness and travel of the buttons. If your buttons make any sounds at all and and don't move very much, it is likely they are fake. 

Real AirPods Max headphones have metal pairing buttons that make no noise and are nearly flush with the metal housing when fully pressed. They have a nice smooth solid feeling to them.

Speaker cup

If you remove the magnetic ear cushion from your headphones, you should see a small hole at the top of your speaker housing as well as flush mount screws holding it in place. The small hole allows you to remove the headband from your headphones. 

The end of the headband should also never break as shown on the fake pair below which is made from plastic. Real APM headbands have metal ends on them. 

You can also see that the speaker housing screws are not flush mounted and have round Phillips head screws instead of the proprietary Apple screw. 

Some fakes do use flush mounted screws but even these screws use a bigger sized bit to remove them. There is also still no hole to remove the headband. 

Charge Port

The charging ports on fake units will tend to have warped material around them that changes the direction of light around it, especially if the ear cup is plastic rather than metal.

The indicator LED is also often either recessed or sticking out on fake units rather than being flush. 

You can also see that there is a nice metal mesh covering the microphone port where it is just black fabric on the fake unit. 

Materials

Real APM have metal housings. This fake unit shown below is made from plastic. You can also see once again that the microphone port is covered in black mesh instead of the silver metal mesh.

Its a small detail to see, but the real pairing button is also color matched and looks the same as the metal housing as well as having a beveled edge whereas the fake button is just round on the edge. 

One of the easiest to spot issues with fakes is plastic parts. All of the shiny parts on an authentic APM are metal. The housing is also metal and should feel cold to the touch if the headphones have been sitting around for a bit. 

Fakes often have plastic parts instead which will break much easier. 

The headband on real APM is made of very flexible plastic that should never break, if your headband snaps, its likely that your APM are fake. 

If you have questions about your APM being real or fake, contact us with photos and we would love to help...Support@JoesGE.com

Likewise, if your APM are broken, we offer repair services Here.