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For those using iPad chargers on 6 or 6+

snsking

snsking

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 10, 2013
370
79
This thread is meant to be informative.

I figured this would be a good time to make this thread. I purchased a 12 watt charger in order to speed up charging times with my 6+.

However, I started having doubts of the legitimacy of this charger. So I took it upon myself to open it up, and behold:

lR5dW5Q.jpg


UBwfk64.jpg


pxTHMuB.jpg


ELJSh0G.jpg


NCvcine.jpg


Now, can anyone tell me if this charger is legitimate or not? It passes all the genuine checks on the outside. "Designed by Apple in California Assembled in China", and spelling is correct, all signs and logos are present, USB port looked normal.

This is a comparison of legit vs fake (Left is real, right is fake)

ipad-chargers-bottom.png


ipad-chargers-top.png


This is where I get lost. The top of the circuit board on the one I have looks exactly like the genuine charger I have. Meanwhile the back of the circuit board looks like the fake charger that's above.

Also, I am not sure if the 5W and 12W are built differently. The images above I believe are from a 5W. I purchased a 12W.

There's a bunch of things that add, and yet, simple things like the USB serial aren't there.

Experts, chime in ;)
 
Last edited:
snsking said:
I figured this would be a good time to make this thread. I purchased a 12 watt charger in order to speed up charging times with my 6+.

However, I started having doubts of the legitimacy of this charger. So I took it upon myself to open it up, and behold:

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Now, can anyone tell me if this charger is legitimate or not? It passes all the genuine checks on the outside. "Designed by Apple in California Assembled in China", and spelling is correct, all signs and logos are present, USB port looked normal.

This is a comparison of legit vs fake

Image

Image

This is where I get lost. The top of the circuit board on the one I have looks exactly like the genuine charger I have. Meanwhile the back of the circuit board looks like the fake charger that's above.

There's a bunch of things that add, and yet, simple things like the USB serial aren't there.

Experts, chime in ;)
Click to expand...

Stop wasting your time and just charge your phone.
 
snsking said:
can anyone tell me if this charger is legitimate or not?
Click to expand...
The charger's legitimacy is rather moot at this point. :D

It is easy enough for a counterfeiter to make their product look identical to the original. Thus while you can certainly identify the obvious counterfeits I don't believe there's any non-destructive way to truly verify legitimacy.

Best bet is to choose your source carefully. If you're buying from some ebay seller shipping from China for $3, it's probably not genuine.
 
No to hijack the thread but from time to time I use the genuine Apple 10w charger that came with my iPad 3 (or the 12w charger I bought from the Apple store) to charge my 6+ and find that both charger and phone get pretty warm till the phone reaches 80% or so and begins trickle charging.

Anybody else?
 
Normal.

Battery charging is not 100% efficient. Nor is converting 120-240VAC to 5VDC. Both operations lose some percentage of the power as heat.
 
whyflyguy said:
Stop wasting your time and just charge your phone.
Click to expand...

It's not wasting time if you could potentially save your home from catching fire even if unlikely.

OP, I recently bought a 'genuine' 12w iPad Charger from eBay because I wanted to save some money. From exterior inspection the main unit seems legit along with the text, though I'm not 100% sure as I don't have a genuine one to compare it to. Here's a picture of the text part of the main unit. Would appreciate it if anyone else can confirm theirs is the same.

Unknown.jpg


One thing that did put me off though was that the plug connector part of the charger was wrapped in a freezer bag, so I'm not sure whether that part is fake and the main unit is genuine or neither are genuine.

Unknown_1.jpg

Unknown_2.jpg


I'm not prepared to open mines up so I can't help you on that part, but I guess the real way to find out is to open it up and check the internals like you did. But if you do that, it'll most likely render the charger useless :|

Btw, which one is genuine and which one is fake on the pictures you posted? I'm guessing the left side is genuine?
 
Hustler1337 said:
It's not wasting time if you could potentially save your home from catching fire even if unlikely.

OP, I recently bought a 'genuine' 12w iPad Charger from eBay because I wanted to save some money. From exterior inspection the main unit seems legit along with the text, though I'm not 100% sure as I don't have a genuine one to compare it to. Here's a picture of the text part of the main unit. Would appreciate it if anyone else can confirm theirs is the same.

Unknown.jpg


One thing that did put me off though was that the plug connector part of the charger was wrapped in a freezer bag, so I'm not sure whether that part is fake and the main unit is genuine or neither are genuine.

Unknown_1.jpg

Unknown_2.jpg


I'm not prepared to open mines up so I can't help you on that part, but I guess the real way to find out is to open it up and check the internals like you did. But if you do that, it'll most likely render the charger useless :|

Btw, which one is genuine and which one is fake on the pictures you posted? I'm guessing the left side is genuine?
Click to expand...

"OP, I recently bought a 'genuine' 12w iPad Charger from eBay"

I too did the same. The reason I opened it is because I plan to buy 3 or 4 more, and if they turn out to be legit, the seller is offering them at a good price.

But given I had doubts of it's legitimacy I figure I would just open it up. Not only that, but if it is in fact fake, this has to be the best quality fake I've ever seen.

I figured I would also be helping out someone else in the future.

Btw, left is real, right is fake. I updated the OP.
 
Hustler1337 said:
It's not wasting time if you could potentially save your home from catching fire even if unlikely.

OP, I recently bought a 'genuine' 12w iPad Charger from eBay because I wanted to save some money. From exterior inspection the main unit seems legit along with the text, though I'm not 100% sure as I don't have a genuine one to compare it to. Here's a picture of the text part of the main unit. Would appreciate it if anyone else can confirm theirs is the same.

Unknown.jpg


One thing that did put me off though was that the plug connector part of the charger was wrapped in a freezer bag, so I'm not sure whether that part is fake and the main unit is genuine or neither are genuine.

Unknown_1.jpg

Unknown_2.jpg


I'm not prepared to open mines up so I can't help you on that part, but I guess the real way to find out is to open it up and check the internals like you did. But if you do that, it'll most likely render the charger useless :|

Btw, which one is genuine and which one is fake on the pictures you posted? I'm guessing the left side is genuine?
Click to expand...

Looking at your pictures more, the international adapter definitely looks like it might be a knockoff. The charger itself looks identical to mine
 
Hustler1337 said:
OP, I recently bought a 'genuine' 12w iPad Charger from eBay because I wanted to save some money. From exterior inspection the main unit seems legit along with the text, though I'm not 100% sure as I don't have a genuine one to compare it to. Here's a picture of the text part of the main unit. Would appreciate it if anyone else can confirm theirs is the same.

Unknown.jpg
Click to expand...

Looks the same as my genuine charger (bought direct at a US Apple Store):

12WAdapter.jpg


But, that isn't a guarantee that yours is genuine. If someone has the equipment to make plastic molds that look like Apple chargers, they can probably screen-print text that looks identical, too.

I think the bottom line is, if you want to save money, you should get a charger from someone hat spends money to be MFi certified so the internals are quality, even if their charger looks different. Rather than buy from someone who spent all their money making the outside look like a plausible Apple knockoff.
 
It's fake for sure, look at the amount of components lacking on the bottom.

The top of the circuit board also looks pretty different, there's a big diode on the bottom with a single electrolytic capacitor, that doesn't exist on the real one. Capacitors are important for filtering, lesser capacitors generally mean a less clean output, which would be expected of a fake one when it comes down to manufacturing it as cheap as possible.
 
Last edited:
Hustler1337 said:
It's not wasting time if you could potentially save your home from catching fire even if unlikely.

OP, I recently bought a 'genuine' 12w iPad Charger from eBay because I wanted to save some money. From exterior inspection the main unit seems legit along with the text, though I'm not 100% sure as I don't have a genuine one to compare it to. Here's a picture of the text part of the main unit. Would appreciate it if anyone else can confirm theirs is the same.

Unknown.jpg


One thing that did put me off though was that the plug connector part of the charger was wrapped in a freezer bag, so I'm not sure whether that part is fake and the main unit is genuine or neither are genuine.

Unknown_1.jpg

Unknown_2.jpg


I'm not prepared to open mines up so I can't help you on that part, but I guess the real way to find out is to open it up and check the internals like you did. But if you do that, it'll most likely render the charger useless :|

Btw, which one is genuine and which one is fake on the pictures you posted? I'm guessing the left side is genuine?
Click to expand...


This power adapter and the plug are fake. The font is wrong on the adapter and the plug has obvious issues.

Have a look at the one above - the font is heavier and more consistent.
 
So... you ripped the thing apart to the point that it now looks unusable. Forgive me for sounding cynical, but does it matter if it's legit at this point? You can't use it, and you obviously can't tell a legit from a fake by just looking at the outside case.
 
lordofthereef said:
So... you ripped the thing apart to the point that it now looks unusable. Forgive me for sounding cynical, but does it matter if it's legit at this point? You can't use it, and you obviously can't tell a legit from a fake by just looking at the outside case.
Click to expand...

I made it with the purpose of it also being educational. The outside looks as good as any genuine charger out there.

If it's indeed fake, it just goes to show how damn good these knock offs are getting.

I also noticed that there is no tear down of a 12W USB Charger anywhere on the internet. Only the 5W

Figured I'd be the best to take it apart and compare it
 
snsking said:
I made it with the purpose of it also being educational. The outside looks as good as any genuine charger out there.
Click to expand...

That's fair. I guess my point is, even if we learn something from this, we won't know too much at all, other than you should buy from Apple or a certified Apple retailer; only way to be sure it seems.
 
Are you telling me that you'll spend up to $1000 on a phone but won't spend $20 on a genuine charger from Apple? Stupid and sad! Get your priorities straight.
 
go buy a real charger and compare the weights I've ordered like 10 "genuine" apple chargers from eBay and they are way less heavy then ones from target/apple store. almost ALL of ebay are knockoff unless your paying close to retail.
 
Title of this post is misleading. I thought you were testing the legitimacy of whether it charged the iPhone 6 faster. I don't care about whether yours is a knockoff or not.
 
deeddawg said:
That's be fine if the internals were the same, but it's been shown they aren't up to snuff at least in the tested instances.

http://www.righto.com/2014/05/a-look-inside-ipad-chargers-pricey.html
Click to expand...

That article was perfect. I already got my refund for the charger so no worries.

The knockoffs are getting so damn impressive. Its ridiculous.

----------
bpeeps said:
Title of this post is misleading. I thought you were testing the legitimacy of whether it charged the iPhone 6 faster. I don't care about whether yours is a knockoff or not.
Click to expand...

Don't you think the increase in wattage would definitely have an affect on how fast your iPhone 6 charges?... :eek:

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ihonda said:
go buy a real charger and compare the weights I've ordered like 10 "genuine" apple chargers from eBay and they are way less heavy then ones from target/apple store. almost ALL of ebay are knockoff unless your paying close to retail.
Click to expand...

That is a good point. That is the very reason that I thought it was legitimate, the price was retail.

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shadowarachh said:
you open that thing with a hammer and your teeth?
Click to expand...

Hammer+Drill.

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trigonometry said:
Are you telling me that you'll spend up to $1000 on a phone but won't spend $20 on a genuine charger from Apple? Stupid and sad! Get your priorities straight.
Click to expand...

I didn't mention anywhere I spent/would spend 1,000 on my phone. Assuming is even stupider.
 
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