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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,194
30,136



While the first official third-party accessories supporting Apple's new Lightning standard have just started hitting the market, MacRumors has also been following the efforts of unauthorized accessory manufacturers such as iPhone5mod who have been cracking the standard to produce their own chips and connectors.

iPhone5mod has already released a series of cables, docks, and adapters based on the Lightning standard as they continue refining their processes, and the company today announced its third-generation Lightning connector that is "almost identical" to Apple's implementation.

iphone5mod_lightning_production.jpg
Furthermore, iPhone5mod has posted an inside look at its new production facilities, which are three times larger than its previous facilities and now support as many as 40 workers alongside increased automation. A video overview of the facility and a series of photos provide an interesting glimpse at what goes into production of these cables and other accessories.

Apple is keeping tight control over official Lightning connectors, and we've heard that supplies are currently limited to just a handful of third-party vendors with many others having to wait until next year to receive access to the connector hardware. Those tight supplies and Apple's relatively slow progress on its own and third-party accessories have left it open to companies such as iPhone5mod seeking to meet customer demand.

Article Link: Inside an Unofficial Third-Party Lightning Connector Production Facility
 

Quu

macrumors 68040
Apr 2, 2007
3,419
6,785
I'm not willing to use these things on my iPhone 5. I'd rather use the authorized stuff that I know is safe and won't burn up my iPhone or something.

These connectors may work when they test them but they haven't had time to test them over a long period of time and with the rapid revisions (Already 3rd generation after just two months?) this company doesn't fill me with confidence.

I do badly want a dock but I think I'll get an elevation dock with the cable passthrough.
 

Fazer100

macrumors newbie
Jul 27, 2011
10
0
Scary Stories

Got to say i have heard a few scary stories where friends have bought 3rd party connectors lighting and old and the connectors worked but build quality was poor, 2 people i know had the connectors damage the iPhone and ended up not working at all. I'll stick to first party, yes its expensive but at least they always work and im covered should anything go wrong in the future (hopefully never) :)
 

MrXiro

macrumors 68040
Nov 2, 2007
3,850
599
Los Angeles
Got to say i have heard a few scary stories where friends have bought 3rd party connectors lighting and old and the connectors worked but build quality was poor, 2 people i know had the connectors damage the iPhone and ended up not working at all. I'll stick to first party, yes its expensive but at least they always work and im covered should anything go wrong in the future (hopefully never) :)

I love my 3rd party charge and line out cable made for the 30 pin. Looking forward for one being made for Lightning. My current solution is a 30 dollar adapter on a 2 dollar cable...
 

NightFox

macrumors 68040
May 10, 2005
3,233
4,452
Shropshire, UK
With all the unicorn rainbow dust mixed into Apple's official ones, is there any danger of Apple just disabling all these 3rd party unlicensed connectors with a simple iOS firmware upgrade? Do we know if the pin allocation on the actual socket is fixed, or is it controlled by the firmware?
 

Born Again

macrumors 68040
May 12, 2011
3,996
5,166
Norcal
I'm still not over that apple calls this connector lightning.

It's completely cheesy. Frankly I'm embarrassed to say lighting.

It's silly.

It's not fast.

There is nothing lighting about it!
 

smellalot

macrumors 6502
Dec 6, 2011
277
2
OMG, I wonder what those two green buttons on that machine are for :rolleyes:

This is China the way I imagine it!
 

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macse30

macrumors regular
Jul 30, 2009
196
0
Imagine a 12-hour shift on that last machine pressing two parts together once per second. /shudder
 
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