Forget Comcast, ZTE takes the cake with the most blatant Apple-ripoff-of-the-month award. The Chinese company’s latest handset, the Blade S6, is clearly… inspired by the iPhone.
While it doesn’t have the identical chamfered edges of Samsung’s upcoming phone, it does copy the most iconic part of every Apple product.
If you look at the back of the plastic shell, you’ll see “Designed by ZTE in California.”
Apple, of course, puts “Designed by Apple in California” on all of its products. It even ran a whole ad campaign around the ethos.
While ZTE has tried to make a phone like the iPhone, “the actual build quality and feel in the hand is a completely different story,” notes Android Authority in its review. “The entire body of the Blade S6 is made of plastic, and while plastic doesn’t necessarily have to feel cheap, as we’ve seen from the slew of premium quality mid-range smartphones released recently, unfortunately in this case, it does.”
Designed in California. pic.twitter.com/F6H7IzBiWL
— Vlad Savov (@vladsavov) February 27, 2015
Alex Heath is a journalist who works for Tech Insider. He’s the former co-host of The CultCast. He has been quoted by the likes of the BBC, KRON 4 News, and books like “ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation.” He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. If you want to pitch a story, share a tip, or just get in touch, additional contact information is available on his personal site. Follow him on Twitter.
16 responses to “Chinese Android phone takes copying Apple to another level”
They typed the quotes in wrong. It should be “Designed” in “California”…
Imitation is the sincerest [form] of design theft.
In the end its about the SYSTEM, and It still runs android (linux). True, Linux is not garbage like Dos (Initially known as Qdos for quick and dirty operating system), but it doesn’t compare to BSD (Apple/SonyPS4).
DOS was initially known as QDOS. Where did you get that from? Microsoft’s DOS was actually purchased from Seattle Computer Products and they had called it 86-DOS.
And the copying done by ZTE is the case, which has nothing to do with the OS, at least that’s what the article is focused on. I think you are changing the focus of discussion to the OS, which is not what the article is about.
And apple has never copied android! Notifications, voice to text, watch, screen bigger than 3inches, reply to notifications in the notification bar, personalization, I hear you apple fan boys can finally put a third party keyboard in. What is it that tim says, “we didn’t invent it, we perfected it” What exactly has he perfected? How to screw your customers!
Nice try.
It’s a truthful statement: It was designed in California. And copied in China.
Chinese companies pretty much always rob designs and ideas off other companies however there really is no substitute for the real thing……..May have the look but certainly not the class and definitely not the software which makes the iphone along with all apple products the great devices what they are
Rectangle with rounded corners.
It doesn’t really matter anymore what those desperate Android manufacturers do. Apple has sucked all the profitability out of the Android smartphone business, so it’s only a matter of time before they simply give up or go out of business. Google’s Android has been riding on Apple’s coattails since the very beginning and it’s high time they get their comeuppance. Steve Jobs wanted to go thermonuclear on Android and wasn’t able to do it in the courts. The only way Apple can do it is to hit them in the wallet which will be the ultimate butt-hurt. Look for iPhone sales to continue to climb as Apple will be easily able to afford the technology the rest of the smartphone industry won’t be able to reasonably afford.
Wow….that was a whole lot of BS you wrote there. I guess facts are not your strong point?
Which part is “BS”, because there is a lot of proof of what he said on the Internet…
This is really an overblown article. Hyundai has a design team in California and has built cars they marketed as HCD, Hyundai California Design, back in the early 90’s until present day at car shows. If the car is successful enough to go into production it gets a proper name. Were they ripping Apple off 10+ years before the iPhone? No. Or did Apple rip off Hyundai? I think not. It’s not directly ripping someone off by trying to market a product as designed in the U.S., there are plenty of Americans who prefer to buy American products and while no smartphones are made in the U.S., saying one is designed here might possibly sell more products. It’s like marketing food as Natural when there is no regulation on using that word. If Pringles wants to slap “Natural” on their cans they can and it would probably sell more products despite nobody in their right mind thinking a processed chip with 50 ingredients is natural.
Alex heath, you are one of the most arrogant ignorant trolls iv ever had the displeasure to read.
Apple’s iCrap may be designed in California, but it’s made in China from cheap outdated parts, and sold at 5 times it’s production price.
And iCrap 6 took copying HTC One to another level.