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Beware - Newer AmazonBasics lightning cables are rubbish

J

jeremysteele

Cancelled
Original poster
Jul 13, 2011
485
396
Hey all,

I have an iPhone 5s. The original Apple cable is going strong - even with daily use (after two years). An older AmazonBasics cable is still fine after a year.

Wanted to get some longer cables so I purchased two six-footers from Amazon and both of them failed after 8 weeks. Oddly enough - the newer cables seem to have a thicker design.... but apparently it doesn't help anything.

According to the CS rep I spoke to he gets about a dozen calls a day about them failing (all the same story, after 1-2 months they just stop working).

Ah well. If you are going for a new cable spend a little more and get a different brand. My old AmazonBasics works fine - but these new ones are just garbage.

Update: Finally spoke to the right person and they gave me a refund. So at least there's that. Can anyone recommend any other good cable brands (aside from Apple OEM) ?
 
Last edited:
Amazon cables are excellent in my experience. I have 2 in my backpack, one in the car, and another in the bedroom.

I highly recommend them.
 
btbam91 said:
Amazon cables are excellent in my experience. I have 2 in my backpack, one in the car, and another in the bedroom.

I highly recommend them.
Click to expand...

When did you get yours? My old AmazonBasics lightening cable is awesome, but apparently they changed their design (thicker wires, more robust connector) ~3-4 months ago and are having some failure issues.

Amazon didn't want me to return mine (just refunded it, no return needed) - so I took it apart earlier. The wires are all perfectly fine, so the thicker cabling they use now seems to be doing its job. The lightening cables all use a little chip in them - I suspect they switched suppliers or something with their redesign a few months back. It's a shame - can't beat their price!
 
Anker is always good. I recently reviewed
jeremysteele said:
Hey all,

I have an iPhone 5s. The original Apple cable is going strong - even with daily use (after two years). An older AmazonBasics cable is still fine after a year.

Wanted to get some longer cables so I purchased two six-footers from Amazon and both of them failed after 8 weeks. Oddly enough - the newer cables seem to have a thicker design.... but apparently it doesn't help anything.

According to the CS rep I spoke to he gets about a dozen calls a day about them failing (all the same story, after 1-2 months they just stop working).

Ah well. If you are going for a new cable spend a little more and get a different brand. My old AmazonBasics works fine - but these new ones are just garbage.

Update: Finally spoke to the right person and they gave me a refund. So at least there's that. Can anyone recommend any other good cable brands (aside from Apple OEM) ?
Click to expand...
I just tagged you on a cable I reviewed not too long ago. It's great.
 
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Reactions: gewawd and jeremysteele
Can't go wrong with Monoprice. They've got a wide variety of cable lengths and colours. I've purchased several, but unfortunately they started to peel from the head. The one that recently had that happen to me is out of warranty, otherwise I'd phone them and get a replacement. They've got great customer service
 
SgtPepper23 said:
Can't go wrong with Monoprice. They've got a wide variety of cable lengths and colours. I've purchased several, but unfortunately they started to peel from the head. The one that recently had that happen to me is out of warranty, otherwise I'd phone them and get a replacement. They've got great customer service
Click to expand...
MonoPrice is usually a great deal, and their customer service is generally fantastic, but I've had a few issues with cable longevity/reliability.
 
jeremysteele said:
When did you get yours? My old AmazonBasics lightening cable is awesome, but apparently they changed their design (thicker wires, more robust connector) ~3-4 months ago and are having some failure issues.

Amazon didn't want me to return mine (just refunded it, no return needed) - so I took it apart earlier. The wires are all perfectly fine, so the thicker cabling they use now seems to be doing its job. The lightening cables all use a little chip in them - I suspect they switched suppliers or something with their redesign a few months back. It's a shame - can't beat their price!
Click to expand...

I've purchased all my cables between September and November of last year.
 
Anker cables are amazing...best I've found. I bought a couple lightning and micro-USB cables for home, car and work.
 
I ordered Aukey MFI lightning cables from aliexpress. The Aukey direct seller is having 2-5$ coupons if you use through mobile app, they came down to $4 per cable.

Use the mobile app.

Link to Aukey aliexpress store here
 
Still have mine but make sure they don't bend- lol
My older one didn't break off but the newer one did break off (due to bending) not me- my 8 year olds iPad lol
I have 6 iPhone chargers- 2 Apple ones rest are diff
 
jeremysteele said:
Hey all,

I have an iPhone 5s. The original Apple cable is going strong - even with daily use (after two years). An older AmazonBasics cable is still fine after a year.

Wanted to get some longer cables so I purchased two six-footers from Amazon and both of them failed after 8 weeks. Oddly enough - the newer cables seem to have a thicker design.... but apparently it doesn't help anything.

According to the CS rep I spoke to he gets about a dozen calls a day about them failing (all the same story, after 1-2 months they just stop working).

Ah well. If you are going for a new cable spend a little more and get a different brand. My old AmazonBasics works fine - but these new ones are just garbage.

Update: Finally spoke to the right person and they gave me a refund. So at least there's that. Can anyone recommend any other good cable brands (aside from Apple OEM) ?
Click to expand...


I highly recommend the Anker Powerline Lightning cables. They come in various lengths. The Anker cables are very durable, reliable, and customer service is the best!

http://www.amazon.com/anker
https://www.anker.com
 
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Where I work we have a lot of company iPhones and I was buying lots of the Amazon Basics cables but I started having issues with them so I switched to Anker and they seem to be much better quality.
 
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