China made branded phones - Can they be considered authentic?

Hi.

I have some questions regarding my provider that I need some advice around. I ordered two samsung galaxy S3 and an iPhone 4S from my supplier in China, who said to me that it was original and authentic. this turns out and be an OEM phone, but has the same spec as the original when I test them against each other. Samsung says it is genuine when I check the serial number. What should I do with this out to my customers who think this is original?

Very little chance of it being original, being from a Chinese supplier. Sounds to me like you have a very good copy, the better copies can be extremely difficult to tell apart, but authentic branded products and China, are two words that should never be used in the same sentence.

Hi and welcome to the forums, krisus :)

Although Samsung may have confirmed that the phones are or could pass for being authentic, these types of products are still inevitably considered counterfeit since they are not sold in the proper channels. The manufacturer you purchased your phones from may be the official manufacturer for Samsung however they are not licensed to sell these in the market so they cannot sell the items as Samsung Galaxy S3 rather as an OEM phone.

Many branded products are actually manufactured in China and many of those sold as knock-offs actually come from the official or licensed manufacturers who are not licensed to distribute them - thus the products are sold and considered knock-offs.

But like Marc said authentic and China are rarely used in one sentence. So best to avoid China based suppliers selling authentic brands to be on the safe end always :)

All the best!