[General Questions and Answers] AR7CORE:
I recently bought a new phone, and got troubles verifying if it's fake or not.

What makes me believe it's real:

- processor is the expected snapdragon 8 gen 2 (SM8550-AC) (screenshots from "CPU X" app)

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- it has the expected 12GB ram and 512GB storage[ATTAC alt="Screenshot_20230825_152819_CPU X.jpg"]5986839[/ATTACH]

- antutu benchmark says it performs well (in theory it should be 1'200'000, is it an overclocked version ?)

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- geekbench 6 gives similar results

View attachment 5986851View attachment 5986853View attachment 5986857View attachment 5986859View attachment 5986861View attachment 5986863- we can see expected hardware in these apps (CPU X, CPU Z, antutu, geekbench, builtin options)

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- screen has good quality (youtube 12k 120fps looks great and colorful)- i'm able to go in download mode (fake can't, it seems

)

- i'm able to use Smart Watch to backup my phone (previously known as Samsung Kies)

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- I'm able to download app from galaxy store, fake ones can't it seems (source: will add later when i find it back)

- "Samsung Members" says all tested features work well (untested: jack, wireless charging, 2 or 3 others)

- I'm able to get Samsung diagnostics menu (dial *#0#*)

- Serial Number seems to match with IMEI (dial *#06#, cross-checked with infos shown in options)

- IMEI info website says its an IMEI for an S23 Ultra

- IMEI is the same at the back of the phone

- I received the phone 3 days after ordering it

- Taking the S-Pen own triggers the menu

- IMEI / serial is not black listed

- screen shows a little circle while S-Pen hovers it

- phone doesn't seem to have physical defaults

Pretty good hints it's genuine so far, but:

- It was bought on Rakuten for $1100 (normal price in physical store is like $1600 for this version)

- seller's society is declared in france but the owner lives in china (also got chinese name)

- some Samsung codes don't work: such as *#786# (and its extended version) to check if phone is refurbished

- box it came with it obviously fake:

-- no white guides for stickers (source: https://xdaforums.com/t/fake-clone-counterfeit-samsung-s23-ultra-phones-dont-get-caught-out.4586297/)

-- mispelling, missing whitespaces, missing logos, missing "made in XXX" mention

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- IMEI.info says that IMEI is from S23U 256GB, while I have 512GB, model number isn't quite the same too (might be an error from imei info website ?)

- IMEI.info says i'm australian version, it's supposed to be french

- app "phone info" can't check if it's refurbished, it says it's a copy, BUT: it can't read serial number (since android 10 it seems), so yeah fabrication date isn't equal to null serial number

- while unboxing , the phone didn't have that black sticker covering the whole screen, as we can see on youtube videos of unboxing

- some builtin apps were missing on first launch, such as samsung notes, samsung wallet (but i can download them from the galaxy store)

- S-Pen has no writings on it (can't upload other side), a coworker told me his one has some on the back, but I found some youtube videos where pens haven't, so I don't know what to think

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Got to decide quite fast if I keep it or ask a refund. Are there tests that fake samsung phones can NOT pass ?

It seems recent fakes copy IMEI from similar devices, so I don't blidnly trust IMEI / serial.