Spotting counterfeit Redmi AirDots
Table of contents
Wh… Why!?
Some time ago I gave my pair of AirDots (which I’m in love with) to my mother, so I decided to purchase two pairs for Christmas, one pair for my uncle and the other pair for me. However, once I got them they felt lighter, plastic touch was different and their sound was way worse.
Here is what I found and used to prove I got a two fake pairs and get the money back.
Getting information to work with
While working in mac you can print information related to any bluetooth paired device with system_profiler SPBluetoothDataType.
Original AirDots bluetooth identifiers - specs
MAC address:
0 ✓ jobs@hal9000 ~ $ curl https://api.macvendors.com/1C-52-16-08-7C-DB
DONGGUAN HELE ELECTRONICS CO., LTD
0 ✓ jobs@hal9000 ~ $
Dongguan Hele has been manufacturing multiple electroactustic devices for Xiaomi, Motorola and Samsung.
Vendor ID:
0x005D is the company identifier for Realtek Semiconductor Corporation. Makes sense to find a Realtek IC inside this small earbuds since, according to Xiaomi, they do pack a Realtek 8763 IC, an ARM microcontroller designed for bluetooth audio devices.
Device class:
Class 0x240418 stands for service “Audio”, “Rendering” with major device class “Audio / Video” and minor device class “Headpones”.
Counterfeit AirDots bluetooth identifiers - specs
MAC address:
0 ✓ jobs@hal9000 ~ $ curl https://api.macvendors.com/5D-0A-EE-53-31-67
{"errors":{"detail":"Not Found"}}
0 ✓ jobs@hal9000 ~ $
Never before heard about this “Not Found” manufacturer 🤔
Vendor ID:
There is no vendor with UUID 0x05D6 assigned according to Bluetooth SIG.
Device class:
Class 0x240404 belongs to the same services as the original model but one. Instead of advertising a “Headphones” service, it stands for the “Wearable Headset Device” minor device class.