Authenticity of AirPods 2 shipped and sold by Walmart.com

I took advantage of Walmart’s Early Black Friday deal, and delightfully purchased a pair of AirPods 2’s when they dropped to a price to just $69.99.

Now, after having owned a pair of the AirPods Pro (1st Gen) since their release, some things are striking as off about the pair I received from Walmart.com, and I am questioning the authenticity.

Initially, I noticed the hinge of case lid is loose and clacky clacks a fair amount compared to my Pro’s case hinge. Idk, feels just not the Apple quality I am used to with other accessories. Though the case itself (aesthetically) appears to be genuine.

There seems to be an ever so subtle audio lagging/sync issue happening, where in I hear audio playback of the left AirPod 2 is slightly delayed behind the right.

It is quite difficult to get the Airpod 2’s, either left or right to engage double/triple tap touch inputs. I’ve tried many suggestions as to where to tap or holding the stem whilst tapping here from the Apple Community, but still it takes multiple attempts each time trying to get audio to Pause/Play.

As well, I’ve yet to get my left which I assigned tap skip forward/backward track to ever successfully work yet.

I have followed the instructions given by Apple’s website guide for resetting/repairing the AirPod 2’s.

I’ve done this a few times following meticulously each step given, but no luck. They are installed and running latest firmware update for the AirPod’s 2, version 6A300.