I am busy learning about Bitcoin and security, particularly hardware wallets, since I found out that they are the most secure wallets to use and hold bitcoin.
Cold wallets, also called offline wallets are the safest and most secure. Paper wallet and wallet on airgapped devices are cold wallets. Some people do not consider hardware wallet as a cold wallet unless it is not used for making transaction. Some people consider hardware wallet to be safer and more secure, but they only prefer to consider it cold storage wallet if not used for making transaction, or if it is perfectly airgapped, without connecting it using USB cable, but using just QR code for signing transaction.
But a hardware wallet gives convenience and also able to support more coins. Also safer than online wallets and can be used as a cold wallet.
So I read some articles online, but they did not explain how a new user could detect if a hardware wallet has already been tamper with before purchasing it.
To know if a hardware is not original or tampered with, it can differ from the company that manufactured it. Best to order it directly from the company, or an official reseller is the best.
After buying it, you still need to check if it is fake or tampered with. OmegaStarScream post should be helpful about that.
Or if you want to buy any hardware wallet that you like that is not Trezor or Ledger Nano, you can let us know for us to let you know more about the wallet and how to know the fake or tempered with ones.