Unofficial 30-Pin Dock Connector and Micro-USB Lightning Adapters Coming Soon

[MacRumors]

iPhone5mod is continuing its rapid pace of development on unauthorized Lightning-compatible accessories today, introducing a new direct plug 30-pin dock connector adapter and a Lightning to micro-USB adapter.

Both of these products are substitutes for official Apple products, with iPhone5mod's 30-pin adapter available in both black and white and priced at $15.90, compared to Apple's official $29 adapter available only in white. iPhone5mod's Lightning-to-USB adapter is priced at $9.90 and is the equivalent of Apple's official adapter sold in European countries.

iPhone5mod is also offering a 2-in-1 kit with both of the new adapters for $24.90. Shipping to the United States is $4 per item or kit, and orders should begin shipping in 2-3 weeks.

With Apple still yet to allow third-party accessory manufacturers to officially support the new Lightning standard, consumers are in many cases turning to unofficial sources for accessories that are either unavailable as authorized products or available at much higher prices from Apple. There have been questions about the quality of many of these unauthorized accessories, but some users are willing to take chances on products for which official alternatives do not yet exist or which carry significantly higher pricing.

Article Link: Unofficial 30-Pin Dock Connector and Micro-USB Lightning Adapters Coming Soon

[blizaine]

wow, those things already look bent and dinged up.

[rmwebs]

Good on em if it works! Apple were very late at getting their 3rd party stuff sorted out with the new lightning port.

Very poor work from Apple and they absolutely deserve to have someone undercut them at the prices they are asking for the cables.

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Originally Posted by blizaine

wow, those things already look bent and dinged up.

I think its just a different construction. The Apple one's are a solid piece of metal, these seem to be a few parts as I guess it's cheaper.

[blizaine]

With the lightning connector being so advanced... I wonder if apple is able to disable or break compatibility with an software update.

[Gemütlichkeit]

You get what you pay for lol

[bazaarsoft]

Seems super silly to risk frying your brand new iDevice just to save a couple of dollars on an adaptor...

[ALCRON]

Oh, "unofficial". I was truly hoping it was "official" instead.
Well, before I saw the pictures of course.

[Hidesuru]

Originally Posted by bazaarsoft

Seems super silly to risk frying your brand new iDevice just to save a couple of dollars on an adaptor...

There shouldn't be any risk of damage to the device. I'm an electrical engineer and it's quite easy to put in protection against over-current / over-voltage situations into a circuit. Given that the pins are all dynamically assigned in this interface, I am certain that they have all these protections in place in case something were ever to go wrong, even with official accessories.

Also $15 -per device- is hardly chump change, particularly if you want several. I bought the 32GB model so I paid ~$300. That was already so much I almost didn't get an iPhone (been an avid droid fan for years, but getting tired of a laggy UI so I thought I'd give the iPhone a try, and love it btw). At any rate, increasing the cost of the phone by a significant percentage by buying very pricey accessories doesn't make sense to me personally when cheaper options like this are out there.

Now, I am certain that the Apple products will be better built. No doubt. However, for many of these items I don't need it to be built like a tank so having another option is good. Also, competition forces any company to keep prices down as much as possible, so I argue that's a good thing as well.

IMHO, YMMV, etc.

Cheers.

[bacaramac]

I know some of these are to compete with accessories Apple has already released and some are ones Apple would never release. I would be happy to pay Apple more money for ones they carry as these 3rd party ones are horrible quality from the pics.

[Michael Anthony]

I guess that since they're the only ones currently making these knockoff adapters is the reason that they're able to charge $15 for the thing. If I was going to pay that much for it I might as well pay a little more and get the real thing.

I'll be waiting for the 99c adapters from Hong Kong's eBay stores...

[macchiato2009]

wow chinese counterfeits... what a great assembly quality

[shurcooL]

Wow, the quality looks to be so bad... I'd never buy that, especially for 2/3rd of Apple's official price.

[mistertomlinson]

I would actually prefer the Chinaman knockoff. It looks considerably smaller than Apple's adapter. Who cares if it isn't shiny. Lulz.

[hchung]

These look pretty bad.

The Lightning side of the two 30 pin adapters have slightly different thicknesses below the white 8 pins

The Lightning side of the microUSB adapter is both crooked in the last photo as well as the leading metal edge above the 8 pins.

Well, those of you brave enough to use them, let the rest of us know how it goes after a month, yeah?

[shurcooL]

Apple's official adapter (that you can buy in Europe) is at least as small, if not smaller.

[everything-i]

These connectors look pretty poor quality and are still quite expensive, probably best to wait or stump up the extra few dollars and get an Apple one.

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Originally Posted by mistertomlinson

I would actually prefer the Chinaman knockoff. It looks considerably smaller than Apple's adapter. Who cares if it isn't shiny. Lulz.

This looks the same as the Apple micro USB connector supplied in Europe, in fact the apple one maybe slightly smaller.

[mistertomlinson]

Originally Posted by everything-i

These connectors look pretty poor quality and are still quite expensive, probably best to wait or stump up the extra few dollars and get an Apple one.

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This looks the same as the Apple micro USB connector supplied in Europe, in fact the apple one maybe slightly smaller.

Oh, I'm definitely waiting for cheaper. I'm in no hurry. My i5's battery doesn't need car charging like my i4S.

[everything-i]

Originally Posted by mistertomlinson

Oh, I'm definitely waiting for cheaper. I'm in no hurry. My i5's battery doesn't need car charging like my i4S.

Yes, not sure what happened with the 4S, some seamed to have decent battery life but others were hopeless.

[PracticalMac]

iPhone5mod is my HERO!

Sure they don't look great, but that they are providing what Apple is not, or expensive!

[PracticalMac]

Originally Posted by Hidesuru

There shouldn't be any risk of damage to the device. I'm an electrical engineer and it's quite easy to put in protection against over-current / over-voltage situations into a circuit. Given that the pins are all dynamically assigned in this interface, I am certain that they have all these protections in place in case something were ever to go wrong, even with official accessories.

Agreed.
Also work with electronics, and today's electronics are more then cable to handling 5v, 1A power in the wrong place.
We make mistakes all time, but rarely fry something.

[Hidesuru]

Originally Posted by PracticalMac

Agreed.
Also work with electronics, and today's electronics are more then cable to handling 5v, 1A power in the wrong place.
We make mistakes all time, but rarely fry something.

And thank god for that! ;-)

A toast to all the engineers out there who make quality products, such as the ones Apple (usually) makes.

[goodgnus]

Originally Posted by PracticalMac

iPhone5mod is my HERO!

Sure they don't look great, but that they are providing what Apple is not, or expensive!

iPhone5mod is probably just buying this stuff on ebay and reselling it. The iPhone 5 docks I see on iPhone5mod are identical to the ones on eBay, buy they're roughly $10 less on eBay.

[PracticalMac]

Originally Posted by goodgnus

iPhone5mod is probably just buying this stuff on ebay and reselling it. The iPhone 5 docks I see on iPhone5mod are identical to the ones on eBay, buy they're roughly $10 less on eBay.

More likely getting directly from the same vendor, and selling for more.

Difference is they look to make a full website and more advertising.

[Phightinphils]

Originally Posted by blizaine

wow, those things already look bent and dinged up.

it's called a prototype that they rough up during the adjustment process.

[Arran]

Originally Posted by shurcooL

Wow, the quality looks to be so bad... I'd never buy that, especially for 2/3rd of Apple's official price.

Yeah, maybe at $2.99. The micro-USB one looks disposable: Its price should match.

Originally Posted by Hidesuru

... I don't need it to be built like a tank ...

With the daily connection and disconnection this item gets, plus the sideways stress when folks use the phone while charging, I do want it built like a tank.

Originally Posted by blizaine

With the lightning connector being so advanced... I wonder if apple is able to disable or break compatibility with an software update.

No worries, a whole "jailbreak-your-connector" industry will spring up.