Despite minor hardware differences, this Pip-Boy clone is capable of running original Pip-OS software, although not as stable as the original ones. Mass production started in the following summer, where tension between two powers at the peak.
The clone was supposed to be issued to select PLA high ranking officers and field agents, but someone saw its functionality and thought it's better suited as a bribery material. Therefore a sizable leak made numerous Pip-Boys appeared on chinese markets, both black and white. While its prices did cheaper than genuine model, it was still a luxury item for average middle-class citizen.
Most people who accept the bribe didn't know how to operate this device(or too lazy to figure it out themselves), when the war comes, they traded the device for more pratical item, like food and water. When soldiers and secret agent with the Pip-Boy died on Anchorage, the gadget didn't stayed on the icy wasteland. Somehow they appear on black markets of the Commonwealth.