China has brought down a massive iPhone counterfeiting operation

The only way for Chinese electronics manufacturers to be taken seriously in the West is if they manage to shake the reputation that they have for being copycats and counterfeiters. It’s not just the companies that need to put in the effort either, the Chinese government needs to step in as well, and it certainly has. Beijing authorities have just taken down a mass-producer of fake iPhones in the country, one of the largest such counterfeiting operations discovered in years. 

Apple’s iPhones are a big business in China. So big that an alleged supplier of knock-off iPhones in the country produced at least 40,000 units, before local police shut down the massive operation. Beijing authorities have arrested nine suspects, and confiscated over 1,400 fake handsets of different brands, as part of an investigation into the supplier, the city’s police force announced on Sunday. The supplier, based in Beijing, allegedly established one of the largest knock-off phone operations found in recent years, according to the police. Since January, the supplier produced over 41,000 fake iPhones, along with 66,000 smartphone circuit boards, for a value of over $19.7 million. In addition to smartphones, the supplier had also manufactured over a million imitation handset accessory units.