Are the iPhone 4 and iPad USB cables the same?

[Errk!]

Dumb question time - I was keeping my iPhone 4 and iPad USB cables separate because I thought there was a difference between them...now I can't tell which is which.

Does it matter? If so, how do I tell which one is which?

 

[Scuba-EMT]

There is no difference at all. I just picked up my IPhone 4 yesterday and simply unplugged my cable from the back of my IPad dock and plugged it into my IPhone to sync, it works just fine.

Cheers

 

[Errk!]

I know they are interchangeable but isn't the iPad one different to allow for higher voltage for charging?

 

[Julien]

I know they are interchangeable but isn't the iPad one different to allow for higher voltage for charging?

No, the cable is the same. The adaptor (wall wart) is larger (10W) for the iPad though.

 

[Battlestar]

All of the cables are the same going back to the inception of the USB to 30 Pin.

 

[koruki]

there is a slight difference cosmetically on the usb end of the iPad 30pin

 

[Errk!]

there is a slight difference cosmetically on the usb end of the iPad 30pin

Well, what is the difference?

 

[skullnbones]

It's just a cosmetic difference on the gen 3 cable. The USB end is no longer bevelled. That's it. A friend of mine just bought a 3GS and it came with the new cable.

 

[KameronBriggs]

It's just a cosmetic difference on the gen 3 cable. The USB end is no longer bevelled. That's it. A friend of mine just bought a 3GS and it came with the new cable.

Yep.

 

[MuleMan]

not exactly

I am unsure what is different about these cables, but if I use the old Ipod cable plugged in my computer to sync the Ipad it takes hours. If I use the cable that came with the Ipad it takes 5 minutes.

 

[maturola]

I am unsure what is different about these cables, but if I use the old Ipod cable plugged in my computer to sync the Ipad it takes hours. If I use the cable that came with the Ipad it takes 5 minutes.

Old cables are different, OP asked about the iP4 and the ipad and those two are exactly the same cable

 

[leomac08]

I think you can even use the same 30 pin connector to charge your first generation iPod Nano

 

[geko29]

All of the cables are the same going back to the inception of the USB to 30 Pin.

This is not true. With the release of the iPhone/iPod Touch, they switched from the old cables that had a large dock end with pushbutton release to the slimmer profile that you just pull out. The old cables don't physically fit through many cases, including Apple's own bumper, while the new ones do. There have been other minor tweaks (the newest small-ended cables no longer have square instead of rounded corners), but that's the only major change I'm aware of.

 

[smitty078]

The FUNCTION of all of the cables are identical. The APPEARANCE has changed slightly a few times over the years.

 

[lozpop]

Just for chronicle, when I tried to restore my iPad with the USB cable of my iPhone 3G — not an iPhone 4 — iTunes it gave me a numeric error and it couldn't restore.

On the Apple website I found the error number and the solution was to change the USB cable.

Obviously the iPad USB cable worked perfectly.