I picked up a bunch of SMD nRF24l01+ modules off AliExpress. They're definately not using Nordic nRF24l01+ chips, since they respond to the bank switch command (0x50, 0x53).
They're COB under an epoxy blob, so there's nothing to identify the chips.
Besides supporting bank 1 registers like the BK2421 & RFM70, these chips have a different pipe0 default address (starting with 46 20 88 instead of E7 E7 E7). The pipe1 default is the same as the nrf (C2 C2 C2..)
The reset value for registers 0-5 are identical to the nRF, but register 6 0x4a. That doesn't match the datasheet for any of the nRF compatible chips like the BK2423, Si24R1, the RFM70 or any of NST's chips.
http://www.nst-ic.com/en/product...
http://www.bekencorp.com/en/inde...
http://www.silabs.com/products/w...
I paid $6.10 for 10 of these modules, so I doubt it uses a HopeRF chip (too expensive). My guess would be NST or Beken, or maybe some other Chinese chip designer I haven't heard of.
I'd like to find the datasheet for these so I can control the power properly using register 6. Also since it has a second register bank, it may have a way to read RSSI (unlike the Nordic chips).