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Apple Introduces New 5W Charger With Folding Pins in United Kingdom

beanbaguk said:
It's very clever but what a rip-off! £25!?!?!?

For £15 I bought one of these:

While not as pretty, it's a far superior product.
Click to expand...

When you buy a charger, it's quite pointless to talk about the price unless someone qualified has opened it and looked at the parts inside. Chargers range from 100% safe to absolute death traps.

Cables are quite harmless in comparison; they either work or they don't, but they won't kill you if the charger is Ok.

citysnaps said:
Open up any Apple charger and compare it with a no-name version bought on the street for a lot less money.

Apple chargers are well-designed and safe. They also bear the logos of worldwide safety standards organizations.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, cheap chargers can bear the exact same logos. Except they never bothered to undergo the necessary testing and just print those logos anyway :-(
 
Anyone that uses these plugs knows how painful it is when you accidentally tread on one (as they ALWAYS end up prong side up). :mad:

For the safety of feet in the parts of the world where the 3 pin plug is used, this pin fold-ability should be mandatory. :p:D
 
aristobrat said:
The U.S. one for the iPad and notebooks has always had folding pins, hasn't it?
Click to expand...

It does, but they are both much larger than the tiny 5w one. But I never take the 5w one with me because of the prongs always sticking out...
 
beanbaguk said:
It's very clever but what a rip-off! £25!?!?!?

For £15 I bought one of these:

Image

While not as pretty, it's a far superior product.
Click to expand...

Sorry for the newb q; but What is this? I see it has 2 usb ports. Power for 2 iPads? What's the big piece? The transformer?? You stick it all into a plug?

Edit: nvm I found it at Amazon for $48 usd. Cool adapter for the 15 price over there. You guys are getting robbed on apple accesory pricing.
 
Last edited:
Nice design. I know how big UK prongs are.
But still, why buy 5W for £15 when you can buy the 12W for same price?
I Canada store 5W and 12W are same $25.
12W not much bigger to carry around as spare in my laptop bag.
 
Behind the times?

The UK has the most ugly electrical plugs in the world and have not recognized that they don't need to be so huge. There are so many possible designs for an electrical connection to 220VAC that are safe and petit.
 
Look-A-Like

Looks rather like another UK folding plug:
http://www.slimplug.com/

I've had these for a while for my non-Apple laptop power supplies, stops the UK plugs damaging other stuff in the bag or poking through it.....

Will be interesting to see if Apple have gained any permission to "re-interpret" the design ;-)
 
Gadger Snr said:
No you get nowt, just for us in the UK and a few others :p
Click to expand...

They get iTunes Radio and HBO Now :mad:

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Got mine. Lovely design, but it rattles when you shake it. Does anybody else's?

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reevans said:
The UK has the most ugly electrical plugs in the world and have not recognized that they don't need to be so huge. There are so many possible designs for an electrical connection to 220VAC that are safe and petit.
Click to expand...

Are there? 'cos every foreign plug I've ever used has felt flimsy and loose fitting.

Also, that tenancy for the wires to come straight out into the room (instead of down towards the floor) is absurd - it's like it's designed to make things take up more room and be easier to trip over.
 
reevans said:
The UK has the most ugly electrical plugs in the world and have not recognized that they don't need to be so huge. There are so many possible designs for an electrical connection to 220VAC that are safe and petit.
Click to expand...

We don't have 220v in the UK its 240v and all plugs contain a fuse. In many mainland Europe countries the voltage is 220v and they don't have fuses. So they can be smaller.

I am sure that many electrical companies would love the UK to switch to the smaller European style plugs which don't have fuses, however thats unlikely to happen.
 
One for £1.99 here

White 5V/1A Universal Smartphone Folding UK Adaptor Mains Charger USB Plug for iPhone 3GS 4/4S 5/5S 6/6 Plus Samsung S3 S4 S5 Note 3 / Nokia / Sony / Motorola / HTC / BlackBerry / LG MP4/3 Players iPods

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Universal-S...mputers_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=1AFP83SZRP6JFAHG3F8J

Choice of 8 different colours :)

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camperdown9 said:
We don't have 220v in the UK its 240v and all plugs contain a fuse. In many mainland Europe countries the voltage is 220v and they don't have fuses. So they can be smaller.

I am sure that many electrical companies would love the UK to switch to the smaller European style plugs which don't have fuses, however thats unlikely to happen.
Click to expand...

I may be wrong, but I don't believe it is 240v any more.
I believe it was changed to 230v across Europe some time ago.
 
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Its nice Jony, but its not as thin as the MU plug i've had for a couple of years.

Still i'll take any folding UK plugs to my travelling arsenal, I also have a folding "slim plug" kettle lead for my Macbook Pro too.
 
ArtOfWarfare said:
The US charger for the iPad and MacBook has always folded... does the UK version not?
Click to expand...

No, it doesn't fold.

The UK iPad and MacBook chargers are exactly the same as the US model, except for the detachable plug part. Only the US version of the "plug bit" has folding pins. All the various other international plugs do not.


SKU10681701.jpg
 
ChazUK said:
Anyone that uses these plugs knows how painful it is when you accidentally tread on one (as they ALWAYS end up prong side up). :mad:

For the safety of feet in the parts of the world where the 3 pin plug is used, this pin fold-ability should be mandatory. :p:D
Click to expand...

I've seen similar post to this one previously.
Why, oh why, is the charger on the floor? :confused:
 
To be fair, I don't think it'll do much for feet safety. Anyone leaving plugs lying around on the floor isn't likely to be organised enough to fold away the prongs.

I wonder if they could have made a spring-loaded version where the prongs retract when out-of-use. (Yes, I know this isn't the top priority for this design). :)
 
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