I knew when the damn lightning cable wouldn’t hold in place anymore.
On the first device it was just very wonky, a lose connection. On the second one it’s a completely dead port. I wanted to upgrade the first time, hence didn’t get it fixed. Now with the second one I fall back on wireless charging as a workaround.
Oh, sorry to hear that. It actually sounds like the ports had issues right from the time you bought the phone.
Or, is it that these issues cropped up with heavy use. I am not sure I follow.
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I mentioned this in your previous thread (which prompted this new thread) and I'll highlight here what can break inside the Lightning port in the iPhone for others who might be curious.
The male lightning plug on the charge cord has a notch formed into each side of the plug to grab the spring retainers inside the Lightning port in the phone. The male plug has eight contact pins on each side, but only one side is used at a time. Each side is redundant.
The female port in the phone only has 8 contacts on one side. That design allows for the male plug to be inserted any way, upside down or upright and one set of contacts will always mate with the single set in the phone.
Inside the female lightning port in the phone on each edge is a spring retainer tab whose purpose is to grab on to the notch formed on each edge of the male lightning plug. It locks the plug securely in place and you can feel it grab when you insert the plug with a distinctive click.
After a certain number of insertions and removals of the Lightning plug (thousands) the side locking spring tabs inside the iPhone port can break and then the male plug won't be held securely in the socket and the charge connection will always be erratic. Error messages can occur on the screen while charging and if the plug is jiggled enough times, the phone will no longer accept a charge no matter how the plug is inserted, and it will have to be rebooted to start charging again.
How often iPhone charge port spring retainer tabs break is something that only a repair shop or apple really knows. All I know is that after about three years, one of my spring tabs is gone and charging must be done carefully. Can't use the phone while it's charging otherwise the connection will break.
Here's some images to see what's what. You'll need a good magnifying glass and carefully directed light shining in the port to see what going on in there.
Most erratic charge cord connections are caused by packed lint in the port preventing the plug from inserting fully... But not always.
Thanks for the detailed reply and the pictures you put up! Helps clarify what this is going on.
I can see lint build up causing issues and taking care of that should be easy.
However, going by your experience it's clear that the more serious issue will crop up with damage to the female connectors that allow the male connector to hook up securely for the charging.
Is this bound to happen after say 3000 (?) insertions and removals? Or, is it to be with rough use-I've seen people sometimes dangle their phones from the charging cable (ugh!).
Thanks!
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Never had any ports on my iPhones/iPads break and I'm the type of person that plugs in whenever I can so that's a lot of connecting/disconnecting. Now I'm warming up to low powered wireless charging for my iPhone.
I'm more worried about USB C as I've seen the effect it has had on my 2017 MBP. Those ports wore out fast and are super easy to disconnect. As long as I'm on a desk, it is fine, but it won't stay plugged in if on my lap.
Good. That means the Lightning port issue is really for those who use their phone roughly, or just have bad luck. I am guessing Apple designed it to last for not less than 4000-5000 insertions and removals.
What counts as low powered wireless charging for you? The default is 5 W. But how do you feel about 7.5 W? I use an Anker fast cable charger of 12 W and it works really well on my IP8. There's next to no heat and it charges fast.
I am thinking of getting a wireless pad of 7.5 W. That should be fine for quick top-ups.
What do you mean the USB-C wore out? Did it actually break and you had to get it replaced on the laptop? That must have been expensive!