Fake Samsung 980 Pro SSDs on the Rise: Beware of Counterfeit Drives

A Chinese user recently discovered a fake Samsung 980 Pro SSD being sold on the second-hand market, posing as the real deal with a matching 2TB sticker and firmware. The counterfeit drive even fooled Samsung's Magician software, making it hard to distinguish from the genuine product. 

However, upon closer inspection, the knockoff used a Maxio MAP1602A PCIe 4.0 SSD controller and YMTC's 128-layer TLC 3D NAND, unlike the real Samsung 980 Pro's 8nm Elpis controller and 128-layer TLC 3D V-NAND. As a result, the counterfeit drive's performance numbers were significantly lower than the original's, with sequential read and write speeds of around 4.8 GBps and 4.5 GBps, respectively.

The fake Samsung 980 Pro SSDs were sold on Xianyu, Taobao's second-hand market, for 880 yuan ($127.77), complete with official Samsung packaging, making it easy for unsuspecting buyers to be deceived. The incident highlights the risk of purchasing computer hardware on the second-hand market, especially in China, where malicious merchants are ready to exploit less-knowledgeable consumers. This phenomenon is not exclusive to China, as third-party sellers on US retailers have also been caught selling counterfeit products. Buyers should exercise caution when shopping online, especially when the deal sounds too good to be true.