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Apple Reportedly Planning Smaller and Lighter GaN-Based Chargers
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I don’t quite understand the love for Anker, I think they’re over-rated. Perhaps it’s good marketing?
Before anybody jumps on me, I don’t think Anker is bad just not as great as some people think. Their failure rate seems pretty high (just read the Amazon reviews). But I’ll give them credit that they appear to replace stuff without argument. Personally I’ve had a DOA Anker battery, a cable which didn’t meet the published specs so didn’t charge at the higher speed and a cable which was supposed to be 4 inches but was only 2.5 including the plugs.
Agreed. To each his own but I'll just spend the extra bucks and not worry about replacements and such.
!Are there any drawbacks for these types for chargers? Sounds like a magical silver bullet... they are smaller and lighter, more power efficient and heats less, etc. Price maybe? Longevity?
I threw out Anker because they seem to be the most popular brand that popularized GaN chargers. Regardless of who, switching to GaN is hardly copying anyone that warrants an apple-copied-xyz post that you're suggesting.
Not a form a copying that warrants "APPLE COPIED XYZ", no.
That's hardly similar to what Apple is doing by switching to GaN for many reasons. But for the sake of staying on topic, I'm not going to start this Samsung vs Apple issue.
If that warrants "Apple copied XYZ" posts, then it should, at the very least, also warrant "Anker copied Apple's cube charger". Right? Yet, I don't see you posting "Where are the Anker copied Apple posts?" when MacRumors wrote about the cube charger. To my knowledge, no one wrote "Anker copied Apple" in those comments. If you want to be fair, you'd have to call out Anker when they do it, call out whenever Samsung does it, to Google, to OnePlus, and to Apple.
You can pick up a $29 Sony Noise Cancelling headphone from Office Depot today. Can't think of anyone complaining of a company including a feature that, by today's standards, is commoditized already.
Sure, and when MacRumors writes about a new Apple foldable phone leak that looks a lot like Galaxy Fold, your comment would have made sense. Posting it under Apple switching to GaN doesn't make sense.
Did Apple copy Dell in switching to Intel chips? Did Apple copy Logitech when they included a battery in the Magic Mouse 2? Maybe, but I sure won't be asking "Why isn't anyone saying Apple copied XYZ?"
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Price may be higher. Other than that, no real downsides as long as they come from a reputable company (for example, some cheaper no-name brands may skimp on maintaining separation between the high voltage AC circuitry and the DC circuitry, which could lead to fire hazards, etc. Same problem could happen with silicon-based chargers, but the smaller size of the GaN chargers may provide additional impetus for unscrupulous manufacturers (or manufacturers with bad engineers) to cause such problems.
Spoiler - there will likely be products in three years which won't charge optimally with Apple's chargers today. This is because the standards for power delivery over USB have been improving over time, and absorbing competitive technology with proprietary alternatives like Qualcomm's quickcharge. Once Apple has a charger that supports the new standard techniques, they add optimal support for it in their new products as well.
This doesn't mean they are 'dropping support' or 'reducing efficiency' with the old chargers, it means they are taking advantage of new features. The old chargers aren't capable of what the new chargers are.
You know, there's a chance Apple will move iPhones from lightning to USB-C because they can then cut including the cable in the box too
This is an example of Third Party Accessories makers (e.g. Anker) lighting a fire under Apple's butt.
Nope. I think many people still don’t get it. If you already have one, why would you need another one? Hundreds of millions of people do have charging bricks already at home. If you don’t have one, and you buy one, would you keep it or throw it away every time you buy a new device? Well, you will learn to keep it now. And do the Mother Nature a favour. Thanks to Apple.
A forum doesn't do anything. Individual people do. The way you are framing your complaint is not just overly broad (who are we all acusing of copying what?) it doesn't make sense.
There will likely be individuals that accuse Apple of following third-party charger makers too posting on this forum. Is that a surprise? Creating an account is free
You can't point out hypocrisy based on statements made by two unaffiliated people.
It's not patent infringement unless one side has a patent and the other infringes it.
Also remember there are both patents on inventions and "design patents". Design patents are the ones which actually would cover what you are talking about - this is what gets you in legal trouble if you are reselling copycat/counterfeit purses and the like.
Biased people exist, some of them are likely on this forum, I'm not sure what point you are putting so much effort into making.
Absolutely bullocks, my original apple charger that came with my mbp blew up in smoke while my Amazon lookalike still working just fine.
I’m fine with it if Apple include a token for every device they sell, you can use the token to get a charger whenever you need one.
unless you have something more to back that up, that's not representative of everyone else's experience.
If it just throws some smoke and then die, that's actually a very good failure mode. Overheating is more dangerous, I'm guessing.
Years late. I power all my Apple devices with multi-port GAN chargers. A lot more space efficient to hang a Macbook Air, iPad and iPhone on one 65W tiny GaN charger than having three Apple chargers plus a large multi outlet adapter for the same purpose.
This is what I would buy in your case:
*up to 100 W
*two usb c, two usb a ports
*GaN
*UL Listed
*$56
USB C Charger, AUKEY Omnia 100W 4-Port PD Charger with GaNFast Technology, USB C Laptop Charger Power Delivery 3.0 Compatible with MacBook Pro 16", iPad Pro 11", iPhone 11 Pro Max, HP Spectre https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GFBLGKY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_S-a9FbCJBD45M
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
The Best USB-C Chargers of 2024
Discover the best USB-C chargers that are safe for your various devices, including smartphones, laptops, and tablets.
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What are your preferred brands for chargers?
I'll admit that I have collected quite a few chargers, battery packs, and Lightning cables from Anker. Luckily I haven't had any problems with them.
But I'm always open to seeing what else is good out there.
I remember seeing a certain RAVPower charger recommended on Youtube that can charge Macbooks as well as mobile devices. I always prefer multi-port chargers.
the overheating came first, then it threw smoke and a loud pop, scared half of my classmates at the time.