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non MFI charging... are there issues?
- Thread starter zoran
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You might not have any problems. I’d hedge most likely you won’t. What I think could happen is poor build quality could lead to premature failure of the cable. Pair a poorly made non MFi cable and adapter and you have the potential for damaging the device being charged due to poor voltage regulation.
as 7thson suggests, poor build quality and design can be an issue.
Google will provide you with numerous links discussing potential problems. Here's a link and a quote from just one of them;
"Apple brand charging cables — and those from authorized third-party retailers—contain a small protective chip that protects your phone from a potential power surge or overheating. Many of the off-brand options, while low-cost, can also be low-quality, and experts say many of these cables lack that protective chip, the first line of defense against a power surge. If the chip is missing or damaged, you may be unable to charge your device or may permanently harm the processor or battery."
So yes, there's some risk, but it's just risk and not a certainty that you'd have a problem
Google will provide you with numerous links discussing potential problems. Here's a link and a quote from just one of them;
"Apple brand charging cables — and those from authorized third-party retailers—contain a small protective chip that protects your phone from a potential power surge or overheating. Many of the off-brand options, while low-cost, can also be low-quality, and experts say many of these cables lack that protective chip, the first line of defense against a power surge. If the chip is missing or damaged, you may be unable to charge your device or may permanently harm the processor or battery."
So yes, there's some risk, but it's just risk and not a certainty that you'd have a problem
The risk is more on the overheating thing. As for build quality, many of these unofficial cables actually have a much better build quality than Apple's own fragile cable. Plenty of braided nylon cables sold for cheap.
I have had such cables. It has very nice braided build quality, with angled connectors and slim USB-A (where they built the USB-A plug to be reversible). It's a very nice cable. But my iPhone 7 Plus keeps getting really warm/borderline hot when I use that cable. So I chug it (luckily it was quite inexpensive).
I have had such cables. It has very nice braided build quality, with angled connectors and slim USB-A (where they built the USB-A plug to be reversible). It's a very nice cable. But my iPhone 7 Plus keeps getting really warm/borderline hot when I use that cable. So I chug it (luckily it was quite inexpensive).
This is not the exact brand, but it looks like it. Note that the USB-A side lacks the typical metal sheath, and the pins are double sided so you can just plug it either way.
I doubt the brand is available outside my country, but I'm sure there are many other brands using the same Chinese OEM. I should caution you though on the overheating issue on some of these Chinese cables due to the lack of the protective chip or a fake chip inside for lightning versions.
Brands with MFi certification will have the official chip. And since that license cost money, brands that do have it will certainly advertise that their cables are MFi certified. I believe Anker cables are certified. As for the double sided USB, you have to check on Anker's offerings in your country.
Now I think some Chinese companies managed to reverse engineered that chip, thus we have all these cheap cables that don't exhibit "incompatible accessory" warnings from iOS. These cables are around USD $5 or so in my country, definitely much cheaper than the $30 Apple branded cables.
But of course they have the risks in some sloppily made ones (eg. the overheating mentioned).
I can’t be 100% sure on this but I have no opinion either way on this matter. Many Chinese knockoffs that have clone chips are pretty good. I work fixing phones however, and I have seen the opposite. There are a few surge fuses on the charge port of iPhones. Once they all burn out, your phone is vulnerable and I have seen charger damage. However the vast majority of Chinese oem’s are pretty close, if not equivalent for certain things. The block though, i definitely would not compromise on.
The thing that lets you connect the cable to the wall. It’s referred to as a charger block too. I recommend Amazon, mono price, and Apple direct
Agree on the charger. It's the critical part. This is why I was highly annoyed with Apple ditching the charger from iPhones as it can nudge people into getting some random unsafe charger.
Nowadays, I will simply look at chargers that explicitly support USB-PD. Not only they will fast charge, they will have USB-C port and those with Gallium nitride are quite compact and supports laptop charging as well.
Gan is amazing. I bought the MagSafe charger (which I don’t recommend) and it’s nice using my 29 watt gan charger and still getting the full 15 watt MagSafe powder. While also being able to charge my iPad
Hello makeitrainnaren,
Curious why you 'don't recommend' the MagSafe Charger? Appreciate your thoughts on the item/technology - thanks.
(& Thank you for the link to the Faracent extension cable elsewhere in a different thread.)
The reason I can’t really recommend it is because it only reaches advertised speeds under specific conditions. It frequently throttles the speed and takes ages - especially while using the phone.
Thanks for the reply. I misinterpreted your statement. I thought you were recommending against the MagSafe, because it was damaging the battery, or some such.
All good. Yeah the convenience is there and I get the long term user paradigms Apple tries to get users to adopt. But so far I’ve almost 100% charged through it and a month in battery health is 100% still.