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99 Percent of Fake Apple Chargers Sold Online Fail Safety Tests
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Yes, Mr. "Executive" because it's a well kept secret that counterfeiters' printing presses and die tools cannot reproduce the letters "C" or "E". You much have a license from the EU's Bureau of Roman Letters Management to print those letters which obviously counterfeiters are not eligible to get. </sarc>
Seriously though Apple could do its part by making an easy to find list of MFI partners and the product categories they are licensed to make. Consumer awareness, not law enforcement, is the best line of offense here.
I typically do not buy Apple branded electrical accessories because there are usually more useful, often less expensive, MFI 3rd party products around. But I do stick with the known brands like Belkin, Kensington, etc. and buy them from known brick and mortar stores where I have more confidence they are not getting fake merchandise because of their distribution partners. But most people are not gadget nuts like me and those on this board and do not know Belkin from Bookin. That is where the education must start.
That's a serious charge, but I have to agree.
Surely there should be a happy medium where everyone can buy a safe, properly insulated chargers without being price-gouged by Apple?
It would be nice if Apple took the lead (ahem) on this and said 'you know what, people dying or losing their homes because a power adapter they bought in good faith is a ridiculous situation, we are going to sell all our power adapters at cost price, because it's just too important, and if you're not dead, you're approximately 99% more likely to buy an Apple product again than if you are dead, so it's a win for us too'.
A 5W USB power Adapter in the UK, from Apple, costs £19. Come on Apple, you can do better than that, I don't believe it costs more than a couple of pounds to make and you're selling it to people who have spent hundreds your products already. Help keep your customers alive!
Your "Happy Medium" is to purchase an "Apple Authorized 3rd Party Product." No other option exists.
Yep
The article does a poor job of distinguishing the 3 categories:
- Apple-made
- Apple certified
- Counterfit
And, of course, category 3 can be masquerading as either category 1 or 2.
It's no wonder people are confused, but the article could be written better. I do understand how someone could read it as "99% of non-Appple-made chargers are bad" even though that's not what it says.
I agree about Apple being more transparent but basic USB chargers are not specific to Apple products so they don't need to be MFi licensed. It's only the products using Apple's proprietary connectors that need to be approved.
Since nearly every mobile device I've bought has come with a charger, I've got a lifetime supply of USB chargers at this point. I think my latest Kindle didn't come with one and I was happy to not collect another. But I've also bought from reputable electronic companies online (Amazon) to get the types that have two ports and I wonder now if I got the real thing.
A charger does not need to be Apple certified to be reputable and safe. I have purchased many chargers from all over including Ebay and Amazon. I have yet to have one fail. I do now worry about the safety of those I got from Ebay.
Perhaps there does need to be some more universal standard for certifying electrical goods.
But how do you buy these online and know you aren't get a fake. Their site pushes you to Amazon, so maybe it pushes you to a real product there. But even that says "Fulfilled by Amazon" so I think that means that Amazon will connect you with a seller or product that they have in their warehouse and it might be a counterfeit.
Feel eel sorry for the people who spent all their money on the phone and had almost nothing left to afford a genuine charger
Sensationalist and partial "journalism" like this should be treated with the caution it deserves.
Hey Amazon, better yet, stop being lazy/greedy, stop letting third party sellers sell crap on your site, and go back to what it was like in the old days, SOLD and SHIPPED from AMAZON with AUTHENTIC PRODUCTS. Amazon has become an eBay. I'm all for letting third parties sell stuff, but why not make a secondary marketplace for that? The main Amazon.com site should only be stuff THEY sell, so we know we are getting quality products. At lest if they have their own buyers, they presumably will hold manufacturers to much higher standards than what is allowed in the "marketplace" now.
Now, I'm finding myself back to Best Buy and traditional retail outlets to buy my authentic goods.
Now, I'm finding myself back to Best Buy and traditional retail outlets to buy my authentic goods.
Everything can be counterfeited, but there isn't too much profit to make faking cheap Chinese products.
There's a much bigger market for faking Apple products hence it makes more sense for these companies to start up the fake production line.
But yes, nowadays nothing is sure. Until last month I - and probably you also - thought buying from Amazon was a guarantee.
They are starting to crack down, there's a link to a recent article in the first post.
Amazon to Crack Down on Counterfeit Goods Sold on its Marketplace
Actually, they've been getting better over time about quality as they realize what really sets them apart from Apple. What happened recently was a design flaw.
Haha glad it wasn't just me who thought this. The headline is akin to saying "99% of thiefs are criminals."
The question remaining how do we know if the charger we bought from Amazon saying they are real is real?
Didn't Apple do a global exchange programme a while back? You could bring in a counterfeit charger and they would give you a genuine one - one per owned iOS device.That's a serious charge, but I have to agree.
Surely there should be a happy medium where everyone can buy a safe, properly insulated chargers without being price-gouged by Apple?
It would be nice if Apple took the lead (ahem) on this and said 'you know what, people dying or losing their homes because a power adapter they bought in good faith is a ridiculous situation, we are going to sell all our power adapters at cost price, because it's just too important, and if you're not dead, you're approximately 99% more likely to buy an Apple product again than if you are dead, so it's a win for us too'.
A 5W USB power Adapter in the UK, from Apple, costs £19. Come on Apple, you can do better than that, I don't believe it costs more than a couple of pounds to make and you're selling it to people who have spent hundreds your products already. Help keep your customers alive!
(This was separate to the 2008/9 green dot safety recall.)
This article states that counterfeit Apple chargers are no good. It does not apply to third party chargers.
I suspected I had a counterfeit "square" iPad charger in the mix but there was no way to really tell from looking at it. But I recently got ome of those USB power meters that measure cirrent being drawn. I noticed one or my iPad chargers only maxed out at 1 amp instead of 2 like te others. It went into the trash immediately. (Not that there cant be counterfeit ones that do 2, but this was a red flag)
Nobody ever said that.
99% of 'Apple' chargers not made by Apple are dangerous though.
Get a generic USB charger from a reputable company, and plug your iPhone into that - no problem. Just don't buy an 'Apple' charger not made by Apple.