Photos Claiming to Be of New Lightning Cable with Reversible USB Connector Surface

[kingtj]

I've seen them last AND seen them die quickly....

Bottom line is, the lightning cables are NOT durable. They'll last you a good, long time if you treat them gently. I have one that's about 2 years old too, and still in good shape -- but it never really gets moved from a power strip and wall charger by the nightstand.

On the other hand, they tend not to hold up for more than 3-4 months at a time in the car, where the cables often get trapped between the seats or tugged on accidentally when one of the kids is trying to charge a device from the back seat and the cable is stretched up to the charger in the front.

What on earth have you been doing with them? I'm still using the original lightning cable that came with my iPhone 5 getting on for 2 years ago and it's still in near perfect condition...

 

[WordMasterRice]

I work in Apple retail myself. And registered here just to call out your comment.

If you actually work in retail, you will know they don't just "stop working". They wire comes loose under the wire housing near the lightning connector.

This is for one of two reason. Either the cable is mishandled by tugging the cable to remove it from an iDevice, rather than using the white nib to remove it.

Or, when people are storing the cables, they are not cable tying them correctly (if at all), and the cable is receiving too much strain. Typical example is just stuffing a cable into a handbag.

If you genuinely work at an Apple store, and you're also having lightning cable issues, I would maybe book yourself in for an appointment at the bar and speak to one of your colleagues (because you obviously haven't already) and get yourself educated to manage your cables better. I would be very surprised if you are having lightning cable issues and you work at an Apple store.

Also, saying "very, very lucky" almost proves to me you don't work at an Apple store, of the tens of millions of lightning cables that are in the wild, and the portion that comes back into your store, i would say you have to be extremely, extremely unlucky to have an issue. Let alone an employee.

I'm not sure why any of that matters at all. Apple could solve the problem if they want, but they continue to blame customers. Maybe they shouldn't make the lightning nib so small, and out of an extremely slick plastic.

With the lightning cable, the USB side is so small and slick that I literally cannot pull it from the charger by the plastic, I have to pull it by the cord. My fingers can not hold on to the plastic without slipping off due to a combination of the slick surface and the mating force of the USB.

 

[Cool-Story-Bro]

Is it just me or is anyone else tired of the white cables from Apple? They get dirty so quickly and start to look like crap. I think they should try using a dark gray or black.

 

[Iconoclysm]

Due to the removal of cancer causing chemicals the sheaths of the cables are weaker and easier to break with abuse, but you have to wonder what kind of moron keeps using a cable once it splits even slightly without either replacing or taping it up so it doesn't split further. When you see a frayed cable end that the user is a complete moron, they probably keep driving their car when oil warning light s come on etc.

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I too think you are anal, maybe thats the problem, it looks like it has been up yer bum

But seriously, who keeps using cable till its that frayed before putting tape on it???

Beneath that layer of rubber is a braided cable, you'd need to contact both that braided cable and the cable running along the inside of it to be shocked by it.

 

[kingtj]

re: mishandling

Technically, sure.... but you could say that about ANY cable that got frayed or had a connector pulled loose on one end. It was "mishandled."

When I compare the power chargers with mag-safe connectors from Apple to pretty much ANY charging brick for a Windows laptop, I see a huge difference in the thickness of the cables themselves. The PC laptops use heavy gauge wire with big strain-reliefs on the ends and large barrel type connectors that don't break off easily.

The mag-safe connection itself is a great idea, so a charger that gets tugged on won't take the whole laptop off the desk with it ... but it doesn't really make the rest of the charger any more durable. That thin white wire Apple likes to use (and have you wind around the charger in a spool fashion to stow it away) is destined not to hold up well over years of use.

Apple cables don't fray on their own. Every Apple cable I've seen that frays is due to mishandling. Having said that, none of my Apple cables have frayed.

 

[GizmoDVD]

All for a new lightning cable as the current ones are poorly made and rip apart after a few months.

Still have several originals ones purchased from Apple and/or included with my iPhone/iPad purchase. Perhaps ypu should take care of your things a little better?

 

[Jinzen]

All of Apple's cables do that, because they design them without proper strain relief (they think it looks ugly, and it does, but it also doesn't turn brown and shred itself).

Lightning cables do this, Thunderbolt cables, MagSafe cables, 30-pin cables too. I have A MagSafe cable which is about a year old, replaced once already and is held together with tape (despite the high power being transferred). Meanwhile, I have an old-style 30-pin connector with the holding fins and an honest-to-goodness strain relief; I got it with my 5G iPod and it's still immaculate after nearly a decade of use (with other products).

I can't believe there hasn't been a class-action suit about this yet. Almost every Apple customer will experience it.

There was a redditor who worked at Apple saying that Engineering had repeatedly asked for strain reliefs on the cables but we're overruled by the Design department.

Definitely not the case. My Apple stuff - lightning cables, thunderbolt, and magsafe - are all pristine and look like new.

It's just the way they're handled, thrown into bags, etc.

I used to work at an Apple Retail store and people do come in with broken cables, but you can tell how disgusting and dirty they are as an indication of the conditions they were put through.

 

[robjulo]

Nothing out of the ordinary. Just poorly made, same things happened to my brothers.

We've replaced three over the last year. All shorts at the end of the cable.

 

[repoman27]

Does anyone know what technical advantages using USB 3.1 offers over the USB 2.0 Apple currently ships its phones with? I mean besides the HD audio already mentioned. Will it charge faster? Transfer data faster?

Up to 100W charging (potential to replace even laptop charging ports), so should enable faster charging. 10 Gbps data, which is faster, but iOS devices might not be able to take advantage of all of that due to storage speeds. Smaller, reversible connector.

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All it would take is a longer cable to overcome this. It doesn't seem a difficult problem, so where are they? Please Apple.

The USB 3.1 spec provides better power management features for Enhanced SuperSpeed buses, but only defines power budgets up to 5 V @ 900 mA (4.5 W), which is the same as USB 3.0 but an improvement over USB 2.0's 5 V @ 500 mA (2.5 W) limit. It also doubles the nominal data rate of USB 3.0 (5 Gbit/s to 10 Gbit/s) and improves encoding efficiency (8b/10b to 128b/132b) providing even more usable bandwidth to the upper layers. Supporting 10 Gbit/s operation will likely reduce maximum cable lengths to around 1m in most cases.

The USB Power Delivery spec defines power profiles up to 20 V @ 5 A for a 100 W max, but is entirely separate, does not require an Enhanced SuperSpeed bus but may require the use of special ports / cables.

The USB Type-C spec defines the connectors and cables for the new reversible, Micro-B sized ports. Those will be capable of carrying USB 3.1 SuperSpeedPlus (10 Gbit/s) signals as well as a baseline 5 V, 3 A (15 W) for power, however supported features are obviously dependent on the capabilities of the upstream port. Type-C also includes standard pin assignments for using the Type-C connector to pass analog audio signals. This has nothing to do with Apple's MFi implementation of audio over Lightning, yet in some ways serves to achieve a similar goal—that of eliminating the headphone jack from future devices.

Nothing about the Lightning connector is limited to USB 2 speed. Lightning is capable of passing other, faster protocols. It would be trivially easy, for example, to pass USB 3.0 signals over Lightning.

It hardly matters for current iOS devices, since the flash storage in them is about the same speed as USB 2.0. When the flash gets faster, Lightning will get faster also.

Apple, like most OEMs, has been shipping NAND way faster than USB 2.0 for years. The problem is that Apple needs to license a USB 3.0 (or 3.1) xHCI IP block and then integrate it into their custom SoC. The benefits gained as a result of spending that much die area, TDP, time and money just don't merit the transition yet. Although the photos linked to in this article are all rather blurry, I believe you'll find that these new cables are still USB 2.0 only.

All of Apple's cables do that, because they design them without proper strain relief (they think it looks ugly, and it does, but it also doesn't turn brown and shred itself).

Lightning cables do this, Thunderbolt cables, MagSafe cables, 30-pin cables too. I have A MagSafe cable which is about a year old, replaced once already and is held together with tape (despite the high power being transferred). Meanwhile, I have an old-style 30-pin connector with the holding fins and an honest-to-goodness strain relief; I got it with my 5G iPod and it's still immaculate after nearly a decade of use (with other products).

I can't believe there hasn't been a class-action suit about this yet. Almost every Apple customer will experience it.

There was a redditor who worked at Apple saying that Engineering had repeatedly asked for strain reliefs on the cables but we're overruled by the Design department.

This. It's not that Apple cheaps out on the manufacturing or materials, it's that their design team is pathologically averse to proper strain relief. Their minimalist design simply cannot withstand twisting so the jacket eventually tears. Making the cable longer won't help. Exposed shielding on a lightning or dock connector cable isn't really much of a safety issue, but Apple has in fact been subject to several class-actions in the past for not putting proper strain relief on their laptop power adapters, both MagSafe and the prior design. It's kind of amazing to me, considering how much this issue has probably cost them at this point, that they haven't settled on a more robust compromise.

 

[itsmemuffins]

All for a new lightning cable as the current ones are poorly made and rip apart after a few months.

I have several here. All like new. So too are my old 30 pin ones.

I just don't treat them like something indestructible.

 

[Piggie]

Will Apple drop their connector and replace it with the new standard USB one coming out that I guess everyone else will gradually start using?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8377/usb-typec-connector-specifications-finalized

http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/13/usb-type-c-standard-finalized/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...g-replace-ALL-connectors-PCs-smartphones.html

I guess hell will freeze over before Apple decides to use a standard plus like this in their mobile devices?

 

[robjulo]

Plugging in once a day at the same outlet is hardly heavy use indicative of what others may experience.

We've replaced three. Typically they've all been used in the car where they are plugged in and out several times a day. The cables do not stand up to heavy use in my experience. Given the cost premium over a USB cable, they absolutley should.

It's used every night. Some nights it charges my 5S and some nights my iPad Air, but either way, it's been used every night for nearly 2 years and looks like it did when I took it out of the phone's box and plugged it in to the charger.

 

[powers74]

What on earth have you been doing with them? I'm still using the original lightning cable that came with my iPhone 5 getting on for 2 years ago and it's still in near perfect condition...

Some people (like my brother) can simply DESTROY iPhone cords. They just start falling apart the moment they touch them. I have no idea how it happens. But he is pretty rough on things in general, and, let's be honest, iDevice cords are not exactly "heavy duty".

 

[Azzin]

Will Apple drop their connector and replace it with the new standard USB one coming out that I guess everyone else will gradually start using?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8377/usb-typec-connector-specifications-finalized

http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/13/usb-type-c-standard-finalized/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...g-replace-ALL-connectors-PCs-smartphones.html

I guess hell will freeze over before Apple decides to use a standard plus like this in their mobile devices?

You did read the title of this thread?

Didn't you...?

 

[GeneralChang]

A reversible USB plug that works with current ports? Don't mind if I do!

 

[Gjwilly]

So how does Apple's patent differ from the one already patented back in 2010?
http://www.google.com/patents/US7717717

 

[Rogifan]

You did read the title of this thread?

Didn't you...?

Why do that when one can use it as an excuse to rip Apple? Newsflash: no one is forced to buy Apple products. If you don't like how they operate there are plenty of other choices on the market. And based on a lot of comments here, those other choices are better anyway.

 

[GenesisST]

The most fascinating thing about the traditional USB connector design is that you have to flip it around at least three times before it fits.

Reversible USB will take only two flips... Kind of not joking...

 

[Reason077]

The most fascinating thing about the traditional USB connector design is that you have to flip it around at least three times before it fits.

Seriously. This reversible connector seems like something that should have been thought of a decade or so ago. What took so long?!

 

[Yuniverse]

We have three original lightning cables as well as numerous 30 pin cables and NONE of them has any issues. Am I that lucky?

We should just have a vote to see how many indeed have problems.

 

[Born Again]

So related to the topic - do these new ones work with older USB ports? Great idea

 

[doctor-don]

Odd, I've also never killed a lightning cable - iPhone5, 5s, Ipad 4, iPad Air... Ive only seen some (probably knockoff) 30 pin cables separate at the 30 pin connector end.

Due to cables separating from the plastic ends, I put some Plumbers GOOP around BOTH ends where the plastic and the cable meet. It bonds fairly well to the plastic and the vinyl. That prevents the cable pulling out of the connector. It also takes up some of the strain on the junction. This procedure is used with my 30-pin connector cables.

The only thing it won't prevent is the cable being ruined when the dog chews on the cable.

P.S. I have not had to use this GOOP procedure with any of my micro-USB cables.

 

[Locoboof]

I work in Apple retail myself. And registered here just to call out your comment.

If you actually work in retail, you will know they don't just "stop working". They wire comes loose under the wire housing near the lightning connector.

This is for one of two reason. Either the cable is mishandled by tugging the cable to remove it from an iDevice, rather than using the white nib to remove it.

Or, when people are storing the cables, they are not cable tying them correctly (if at all), and the cable is receiving too much strain. Typical example is just stuffing a cable into a handbag.

If you genuinely work at an Apple store, and you're also having lightning cable issues, I would maybe book yourself in for an appointment at the bar and speak to one of your colleagues (because you obviously haven't already) and get yourself educated to manage your cables better. I would be very surprised if you are having lightning cable issues and you work at an Apple store.

Also, saying "very, very lucky" almost proves to me you don't work at an Apple store, of the tens of millions of lightning cables that are in the wild, and the portion that comes back into your store, i would say you have to be extremely, extremely unlucky to have an issue. Let alone an employee.

I can tell you I have 6 of these cables and I treat all my cables with care. I have 6 just so I don't have to unplug and move them somewhere els. One at work,one in my car,one connected to my PC,one downstairs and two on both nights stands in my bedroom. I can tell you the one at work had this same issue.
I don't abuse or mistreat anything. Just over time this happened. Every time I unplug I grab from the hard plastic,not tug on it like a 4 year old.

I've had two other friends this happened to as well. I've done some reading and it seems this has happened to a lot of other people. It's not to a selected few. All my cables are apple OEM lightning cables.

When I went back to the apple store with my receipt they exchanged it no problem. I did have my receipt showing it was under a year old.

 

[MikeePA]

So related to the topic - do these new ones work with older USB ports? Great idea

Yes. The mid-plate (contacts) is thin enough to enable two possible orientations.

 

[adrianm2000]

Tltl

It's better than not having a reversible USB, however, I'd rather they just add a Lightning port to Macs and have a double-ended Lightning cable. Maybe make a Lightning-to-USB gender bender.