We Opened China's Fake Apple Devices @iFixitYourself

Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

Huaqiangbei is a district of Shenzhen China, and it isn’t just a market—it’s the engine behind global repair. A huge chunk of the parts that keep the world’s devices alive trace back to places like Huaqiangbei—making it one of the most important hubs in the global repair ecosystem.

And then there’s the other side of Huaqiangbei: the grey-market builds and near-perfect counterfeits that blur the line between real and replica. We picked up three of the most interesting ones we could find—so let’s head back to the studio and tear them down to see what’s actually inside.

Chapters
00:00 $1,600 of Apple Products for Under $100
00:14 Huaqiangbei: The Global Repair Hub
00:54 Investigating the Fake Apple Devices
01:07 Fake Apple Watch Ultra 3 First Impressions
02:30 Tearing Down the Fake Apple Watch Ultra 3
04:17 Fake AirPods Max 2 Hands-On Review
06:21 Tearing Down the Fake AirPods Max 2
08:19 Fake AirPods Pro 3 Compared to the Real Thing
09:30 Inside the Fake AirPods Pro 3
10:19 CT Scan Reveals the Truth
12:06 Are Counterfeit Apple Devices Worth It?
12:54 The Real Cost of Fake Electronics

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$We Tore Down Meta’s Ray-Ban Display Glasses — And They’re WAY More Advanced Than You Think We may be a step closer to the end of the smartphone. Look away parents, this is as close as we’ll ever get to a screen without it actually being inside our eyeballs. Meet the Meta RayBan Display glasses. They take all the features of the previous generation Meta smartglasses—open-ear beamforming audio, Meta’s baked-in AI assistant, and picture and video recording—and cram in a display overlay to bring a full AR experience. But what about replacing the batteries in these $800 glasses? Can you change a dead speaker or swap in a fresh lens if you scratch them? No, no, and no are the short answers. But this is bleeding edge tech, and we’re itching to see how it works and throw down the gauntlet for more repairable wearables of the future. Be sure to Pre-order your iFixit x JerryRigEverything toolkit here: https://www.ifixit.com/products/ifixit-x-jerryrigeverything-toolkit?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=ifixitchannel&utm_campaign=MetaRay-BanDisplayGlassesTeardown&utm_content=Description Grab a FixHub Soldering Station here! https://www.ifixit.com/products/fixhub-power-series-portable-soldering-station?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=ifixitchannel&utm_campaign=MetaRay-BanDisplayGlassesTeardown&utm_content=Description A big thanks to Lumafield for their amazing CT scans: https://www.lumafield.com/ Chapters 0:00 – The End of the Smartphone? 0:09 – Meet the Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses 0:24 – Meta Ray-Ban Display Design Evolution & Features 0:47 – Meta Ray-Ban Display: Real-World AR Use Cases 0:53 – Meta Ray-Ban Display Repairability Problem 1:18 – Meta Ray-Ban Display Teardown: Opening the Frame 2:32 – Meta Ray-Ban Display Battery Removal & Specs 3:14 – Meta Ray-Ban Display Processor Arm & Snapdragon AR1 4:11 – Breaking Into the Meta Ray-Ban Display Waveguide Assembly 4:46 – Meta Ray-Ban Display Camera Secrets Revealed 5:04 – Meta Ray-Ban Display Waveguide & Projector Explained 5:32 – Expert Insight: How Meta Ray-Ban Display AR Works 6:10 – Inside the Meta Ray-Ban Display LCOS System 6:51 – Next-Gen Meta Ray-Ban Display Glassmaking Technology 7:52 – Geometric vs. Diffractive Waveguides in Meta Ray-Ban Display 8:42 – What’s Next for Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses? 9:15 – Meta Ray-Ban Display: Repairability vs. Innovation Video Credit: How Does an LCD Screen Work? (1.1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZacFDPW_34 Max Cooper - Music of the Tides - Official Video by Ben Outram https://vimeo.com/266652990 The orderly beauty of liquid crystals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEPefMCvN60 Principles of DigiLens Waveguides https://youtu.be/aZum_COPUek?si=7QgsjPpg6uhPRXlH&t Lumus Manufacturing Partnerships https://youtu.be/a3A47DavUPM?si=NFnaK7OCrwPd6xSH&t Building the foundation for an AR | MR | XR revolution 👓 | The pioneering story of Lumus & SCHOTT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45ZbNUPfgxE We Tried Metas Orion AR Glasses! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-iIE07VS3o I Tried Real Augmented Reality Glasses! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0eKzU_fV00 The WILDEST Tech I’ve Ever Tried - Meta Orion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGO0f1Krp4Y JigSpace for Apple Vision Pro https://youtu.be/Cw9_Ywnsdcw?si=sbewUQUMHiLq1Whg&t=21 This teardown is not a repair guide. To repair your Meta Ray-Ban Display, use the service manual at iFixit.com. Subscribe to our channel for all our latest teardown and repair videos! https://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=ifixityourself Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ifixit Check us out on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iFixit Sign up for our Newsletter https://www.ifixit.com/Newsletter$

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