Galaxy Note 9 will only be launched in the US in 15 days, while Galaxy S10 won’t be available on the shelves until earlier next year. 

The products are introduced by sellers as ‘Galaxy Note 9 Edge’, ‘Galaxy Note 9 Taiwan’, ‘first-class Galaxy Note 9 Taiwan’, ‘Galaxy Note 9 Singapore’ or ‘Galaxy S10 Taiwan’. 

The shops selling the products are mostly located on Lac Long Quan street (Tan Binh district), Luy Ban Bich (Tan Phu), Cach Mang Thang Tam (district 3) and Hung Vuong (district 5). The products are also offered for sale on social networks and ads at different price levels.

The salesman of a shop on Lac Long Quan street said he sold the product imported from Taiwan at VND2.7-3 million, with 1-year warranty and Bluetooth headphone.

An analyst said the imitation Galaxy Note 9 is designed based on rumors about genuine Galaxy Note 9 phones, with rear dual camera with flash light, and heart rate and fingerprint sensors.

However, he said the imitation product looks rough and thick. The contacts on the body of product are slightly uncovered, while one of the two cameras is fake: there is only one rear camera. The heart rate sensor also is not real. 

The pen is bad, with a steel body, and is smaller and heavier than the real pen of Note 8. 

As for the software, the imitation Galaxy Note 9 runs on Android 7.0 with interface quite similar to Samsung's TouchWiz. However, the operations on the machine receive very slow response, or even no response. The camera is not good. 

The configuration data are not shown, but after checking with specialized software, experts found RAM 1GB, MediaTek chip and inside memory 16GB. There are apps available for S Pen, but they are not good.

Unlike imitation Note 9, the fake Galaxy S10 has design similar to the current Galaxy S9 and are not popular. The product also has poor design and weak configuration.

The owner of a private shop in HCMC said buyers still buy imitation products though they know they are fake, because the products are cheap. However, he admitted that the number of products sold every day is modest. 

A mobile device trader in HCMC affirmed that the products are made in China and carried to Vietnam across border gates. They are cheap because they are made on substandard production lines in which quality control is not observed. And unsafe accessories are used as well.

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Mai Chi