iPhone 5 imitator 'hiPhone 5' emerges in China

A fake iPhone 5, based on leaked images of the next-generation iPhone and called the hiPhone 5, has been spotted for sale in China.

Reuters reports that the items are for sale on e-commerce platform Taobao for as little at 200 yuan (around £19 or $31).


However, the quality of the hiPhone 5s varies, and to get a top-of-the-range fake you'll need to part with 800 yuan (£76) or more. According to the Shanghai-based daily newspaper Metro Express the hiPhone 5 is thinner than the iPhone 4 with less rounded edges.

It's based on images that have supposedly leaked from supply chain sources and is said to be extremely lightweight, feeling almost like a plastic toy, the reports state.

iPhone 5 imitator 'hiPhone 5' emerges in China

Fake Apple products are hardly new in the far east, though more recently entirely fake Apple Stores have been springing up, as Macworld reported last month.

Meanwhile, more iPhone 5 fakery has been exposed this week when a video purporting to show the next-generation iPhone was found to be a hoax.