When you look at TWS buds made by Chinese brands, it’s pretty obvious where they got the design inspiration from. In the case of the OnePlus Buds now, it seems to have bitten OnePlus in the behind, even if it’s not entirely the company’s fault.
The US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) claimed on Twitter that it seized 2000 counterfeit Apple AirPods from Hong Kong. The agency also says that they will be valued at US$398000 had they been genuine. But in the accompanying image, these pods never pretended to be Apple products to begin with. The box clearly says OnePlus Buds, after all.
Hey, give those back! 🙃
— OnePlus USA (@OnePlus_USA) September 14, 2020
Sure enough, more tech-savvy netizens piled on the CBP’s ignorance. And even OnePlus USA’ Twitter account came in, asking for its buds back. Which all made for some funny reading, if you have time to kill. Here’s one of the more amusing examples.
Sold for USD 129.99 !
— Sandeep Raghuraman (@sandy8925) September 14, 2020
On one hand, there’s really no denying that the OnePlus Buds look very similar to the Apple AirPods. You can sort of understand that this could very well be an honest mistake by the US CBP. In a way, this could be taken as a sign that copying Apple’s design is not always the best idea. And this is especially true for TWS buds, where the stem protruding from the buds isn’t a flattering look, to put it very mildly.
But on the other, it takes an extreme level of apathy to have not heard of the name OnePlus. That, and to not see the name OnePlus Buds printed so clearly on the box as well. Unless, of course, these are actually counterfeits of OnePlus’ TWS buds, and that the US CBP knows something no one else does. But who knows, this may be the US CBP trolling and giving the world a good laugh at its expense.
(Source: US CBP [1], [2], OnePlus USA / Twitter)
