They say copying is the highest form of flattery. If that is indeed the case, perhaps Apple should consider sending gift baskets to the big bosses at Gionee rather than threatening legal action at the Chinese manufacturer and its iPhone-inspired Android smartphone.

The recently launched Gionee G13 Pro is an Apple iPhone 13 series doppelganger that runs HarmonyOS with Huawei Mobile Services out of the box. Heck, the G13 Pro even sports a wide notch for its 5-megapixel selfie camera that supports Face ID, er, face unlock for security, because why not?

Considering it is a litigation magnet if released overseas and given its choice of operating system (HarmonyOS doesn’t come with native support for Google apps and Google Mobile Services), the phone will probably be limited to the Chinese market. To be clear, this is not the first iPhone clone on the market — and it likely won’t be the last.

The Gionee G13 Pro ships in four colors — black, blue, gold, and purple — and has a starting suggested retail price of ¥529 (about P4,250 in Philippine pesos or $83 in U.S. dollars) for the baseline variant with 4GB RAM and 32GB of storage. Bumping up the memory and storage configuration to 4GB/128GB will cost you ¥699 (P5,616 or $110). And while that’s only a fraction of what an actual iPhone 13 sells for right now, you’re also most certainly getting a fraction of that phone’s premium hardware and software experience.

The G13 Pro has a 6.26-inch FHD+ display with a 19:9 aspect ratio. For pictures and video, you get a dual-lens setup on the rear, headlined by a 13-megapixel main camera. Under the hood, the phone uses a Unisoc T310 chipset, while a 3,500mAh battery keeps the lights on. It also features stereo speakers with surround sound.

Gionee G13 Pro specs

• 6.26-inch LCD display, FHD+ resolution
• Quad-core Unisoc T310 processor
• PowerVR GT7200 GPU
• 4GB RAM
• 32GB/128GB storage
• Dual 13-megapixel main, secondary rear cameras
• 5-megapixel front camera
• Side fingerprint reader
• 3,500mAh battery with USB-C charging
• HarmonyOS based on Android
• Color options: black, blue, gold, purple

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Ramon Lopez

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Reviews editor: Ramon "Monch" Lopez has 16 years of professional experience creating and editing content for print and digital publications such as Yahoo. He headed the gadgets-merchandising division of one of the Philippines’ largest retail operators somewhere in between.