Digione, a Chinese smartphone manufacturer, has released a super-cheap Android smartphone that is not just similar to Apple’s iPhone 6, but it’s the exact replica of the handset, Business Insider writes. The new replica smartphone costs just a fraction of the real thing – if the iPhone 6 sells for $600, the Digione 100+ V6 is sold for 799 Chinese yuan, the equivalent of $129.
Before you start cracking jokes about how the Chinese copy everything that is successful, consider this: Digione’s 100+ V6 smartphone – with some quite decent hardware hidden under its hood – was announced to become available this May. The similarities between the phones are striking, and Digione is not happy about this situation. It claims that Apple may have infringed some of its patents, filed by one of Digione’s subsidiaries back in January, which has been approved by China’s intellectual property authorities in June.
The design of the handsets is surprisingly similar, except for the capacitive Android navigation buttons on the bottom. Even the color options are the same – both the iPhone 6 / 6 Plus and the Digione 100+ v6 are available in silver, gold and grey finishes. Digione has posted a letter that it sent to Apple on December 1st on its Weibo page (a Chinese social network, similar to Facebook) through which it announces Apple Inc. of the possible patent infringement. The text attached to the post reads “we respect Apple, but also hope that China originality can be respected” (translated with Google Translate). The manufacturer claims that it has attempted to communicatwe with Apple Inc. before the iPhone 6 was released, but without success. The English version of the letter sent by the company to Apple can be downloaded here.
The 100+ V6 was released in China only. It has a large screen – 5.5 inches – and hides an octa-core MediaTek processor under its hood. It runs a modified version of Google’s Android operating system from Chinese search giant Baidu. This is not the first time Apple faces such troubles in the country – the company has paid out $60 million in 2012 for the ownership of the iPad brand in China.