Revealing the secrets of Apple’s official iPhone data cable: expensive and poor quality!

Apple’s hardware quality is very good, but there is one exception. Its reputation is extremely bad. Do you know what it is?

The answer is the official iPhone data cable. In order to promote official accessories (and of course certified data cables), Apple has restricted third-party data cables (iOS system restrictions, data cannot be transmitted without certification). This has forced many Apple fans to switch to official cables.

Apple's official data cables are expensive, but the quality is surprisingly poor. Many Apple fans have complained about Apple before. The official data cables basically start with the rubber covering the interface falling off, until the cables break and become unusable.

In response to user complaints, employees of Apple's Shenzhen store said that mobile phone data cables that are still within the one-year warranty period (proof of purchase is required) are eligible for free replacement service. Don't be too happy too soon, because this refers to data cables that are intact in appearance but cannot be used normally. Common data cable breakage and "peeling" phenomena are not covered by the warranty.

The official data cables are not good and the high prices have caused many users to switch to third-party Apple-certified data cables. The strong demand has become a magic weapon for Huaqiangbei copycat merchants to make money.

The Daily Economic News reported that the founder of a mobile phone data cable brand in Huaqiangbei emphasized that Apple has made many compromises in the design of data cables. An important reason why iPhone data cables are not durable is the material problem. For environmental protection reasons, Apple uses halogen-free TPE cables. The advantage of this type of cable over PVC plastic material is that it is easy to degrade. Although it has advantages in safety and environmental protection, TPE cables are very light and soft, the material is not resistant to dirt, and it is far less strong than data cables made of common braided wires. Therefore, once the intensity of use is high and you do not pay attention to daily usage, it is very easy to have skin cracking problems.

The most vulnerable part of Apple data cables is often the connector, where the rubber near the connector cracks and exposes the wires inside. The inside is divided into an aluminum foil shielding layer, a metal shielding layer, an international four-color wire, and a strong tensile protection wire. The aluminum foil shielding layer is an insulation treatment to ensure the safety of the iPhone when charging; and in order to increase the toughness of the data cable, Apple also wraps a layer of metal mesh around the wire, which will extend all the way to the protective rubber ring of the data cable connector. However, the four wires used for charging and data transmission will eventually be welded at different locations of the data cable interface. Therefore, after the wires are separated, the metal mesh can no longer wrap the wires, which makes the connector of Apple data cables the most prone to problems.

In addition, some Apple users have bad habits when using data cables in daily life - they often pull the cable body. If they pull it too many times, the "fragile" rubber part of the connector will bulge or even break.

Apple officials reiterated that the iPhone uses a technical method to block counterfeit chargers and data cables. Certified cables have chips that can be verified. Under standard conditions, after the iPhone is connected to a power source, it will automatically identify the Lightning cable. If a non-original product is connected, the identified data, such as data transmission speed, voltage, resistance, etc., do not match the normal values, and a prompt indicating that it is not certified will pop up.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.