Medvedev and the device

Netizens doubted the reality of the device that recognizes “gray” iPhones

On October 22, representatives of the forensic department of the Russian customs demonstrated to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev a device that distinguishes “gray” iPhones from those imported into the country legally.

Netizens doubted the authenticity and the need to create such a device in principle.

According to RIA Novosti, the work of the device was shown to the premiere using the example of an iPhone 6. The device allegedly automatically established that one smartphone was imported into Russia legally, and the other was not.

At the same time, the agency does not explain how the new product distinguishes the official device from the “gray” one.

As a representative of one of the Moscow stores that sells both non-certified in Russia and certified iPhones told TJournal, without a box (charging type, language of inscriptions on the packaging), in most cases the devices are no different from each other (models from some countries have different ranges LTE frequencies).

The only way to find out the country of origin of the smartphone in this case is to scan the model code and IMEI printed on its back wall and compare them with the database, which can be done manually.

Popular blogger Valentin “Wylsacom” Petukhov suggested that the device is a hoax intended to embezzle budget funds. In a conversation with TJournal, he explained how you can find out the country for which a particular iPhone was intended, without any equipment.

Anyone can check an iPhone for what country it is intended for and thus find out whether it is white or gray. To put it bluntly, there are a dozen sites that will tell you by the number on the box which country the device is intended for. I enter “MGAF2ZP/A” and see “Hong Kong, Macau”. You don't need to be a customs officer to determine that this is a “gray” phone. The “special device” is most likely a Chinese phone on Android, converted into a terminal, which accesses exactly the same database, or a little larger. One can only guess how much money was spent on such an innovation, but it was definitely enough for a pack of grey, white and gold iPhones. Valentin Petukhov

Leading analyst at Mobile Research Group Eldar Murtazin shares a similar point of view. According to him, there could not be any device, but we are talking about a simple base, which includes other products.

Some criminologists showed Medvedev at an exhibition in Moscow a device that determines the grayness of an iPhone - I haven’t heard such nonsense for a long time.

— Eldar Murtazin (@eldarmurtazin) October 22, 2014

It is impossible to create a device that will determine whether an iPhone is gray or white and how it was imported into the country. Someone masters the budget, not otherwise.

— Eldar Murtazin (@eldarmurtazin) October 22, 2014

Customs showed Medvedev not a device, but its base for checking goods for legality of import - and the iPhone was the tenth thing there. Enter IMEI by hand

— Eldar Murtazin (@eldarmurtazin) October 22, 2014

Dmitry Medvedev's special relationship with Apple technology is well known to network users and the media, who closely follow updates to his gadgets. On October 19, the prime minister was spotted at the semi-final tennis match between Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Katerina Sinyakova with a silver iPhone 6 Plus in his hands.

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