There's really only one way to say this: The new Samsung C5 phone is a copy of Apple's popular iPhone 6 and 6S devices.

The Korean tech company launched the device along with a fancier C7 phone on Thursday. For now, the handsets are available only in China, the world's largest smartphone market.

Samsung has struggled to make an impact there. While it remains a dominant phone-maker worldwide, vendors like Xiaomi, Huawei and Apple lead the charge in China. But that can change. Demand for Apple's pricey handsets has declined in the region in recent months, and Samsung could gain a competitive edge with its less expensive but visually similar C5 and C7 devices.

Take a look at these image comparisons. Aesthetically, the phones are practically twins.

And that signals something very important about the global electronics market. As The Huffington Post reported Monday, our sleek, compact gadgets are very difficult to recycle and repair. Apple's trademark designs are particularly problematic, in large part because they inspire knockoffs that are similarly hard to recycle.

"Where Apple goes, everyone else follows," Kyle Wiens, founder of repair website iFixit, told HuffPost.

These devices look good, sure. But if they're hard to repair and recycle, that's ultimately bad news for the planet and consumers who might want to hold onto their phones for longer than a couple of years.

On top of that, Samsung and Apple have been locked for the past five years in a war over alleged patent violations, with each company accusing the other of ripping off the tech and aesthetics of various mobile devices.

Samsung did not respond to a request for comment on the C5 and C7's similarity to the iPhone.