Lightning cable has me down..

[Quake5254]

Then i would take it back to the retailer you bought it from or maybe an Apple store, with normal use it shouldn't fall apart like that.

It did on me. Will bring it later when there's a need for a spare.

 

[SandraD]

I've had problems too and I'm pretty careful with them. The first one split (within 1 week) were the cable becomes thicker just before the plugin. ATT did replace it but I've a bought a heavier one since. The same thing happened with my iPhone 4.

 

[Quake5254]

I guess this means we really have to be extra careful. And thanks to apple's warranty, it's replaceable.

 

[bknewtype]

i had warranty done on one of my gf's cables. just dont show up with a jailbroken phone or they will void ur warranty ( yes they told me they would void it but they decided not to and just come back when its un jailbroken ).

i went to another apple store and used my non jailbroken phone and claimed it through mine

 

[musiclover77]

I guess I am both comforted and disheartened to hear that others are having similar issues to myself. On the one hand, I am glad it was not me, or something I was doing. After the first one broke, I began to get very careful whenever I would connect or disconnect a cable from my phone. Then another one failed, and finally, my final cable failed, leaving me with no way to charge my phone. I had 10% charge left, and was worried I might not be able to rely on my phone to wake me up for work in the morning as I was going to bed. Airplane mode did the trick with that...

In any case, my thoughts are thus. I really hate that Apple would elect to put out a proprietary cable that costs 15-20 bucks depending on where you buy it from, does not play nice with the rest of the world or even their legacy devices at all, and appears to be very flimsy, fragile, and dare I say, very prone to breaking. The 3rd party cable that I bought at Fry's feels and appears to be a much more solid and robust design than the other 3 genuine Apple cables that I have burned through, and this just does not sit will with me.

I recall that the first generation cables were of similar quality. How many of those cables have I seen broken or wrapped in duct tape etc to keep them working. I was actually mildly excited when Apple released the lightning cable, because I thought it looked more durable than the prior generation cable. Darn was I wrong...

Side note.. I have never had a Micro USB cable go out on me yet, and I have used the heck out of them. Even the 3 dollar cables I get in the discount section at Fry's, I would say have better long term prospects than the lightning cable based on my experience, and this is just sad. For the money we pay for these things, they should have been robust and solid. If you think they are.. be warned.. they aren't..

Side, side note.. What is wrong with using a cable that interfaces well with the rest of the world? Why insist on using a proprietary connector? All I keep coming back to is money and profit, but that just really pisses me off honestly. I owned a Blackberry for 3 years prior to getting my iPhone. I had a half dozen Micro USB cables lying around, that became next to useless when I got this phone. I did not mind at first too much, but now I really do. The least you can do, if you are going to force your user base to embrace a new model and continue to alienate your customers from the rest of the world, as well as the rest of the world from you, is at least put out a decent cable. A cable that somehow justify's this in a sense. If your proprietary cable is rubbish, you are just adding insult to injury... I am just saying!

 

[ler0nidb2]

Anyone else having problems with lightning cables? I have had three of them stop working on me in the last 5 months. I just bought a more heavy duty model made by another company, but am wondering if I am the only one out there having these problems. At 15 bucks a piece i figured the would last more than 3 months, even with careful use.

I have an ipod 5 and an iPhone 5. The cables are the same. So far I use only one cable for both devices without any problem. The other cable is still in the box and serves as a spare one. I guess we have to be careful with the stems at both ends, making sure they are not accidentally bent.

 

[Fin]

Speaking purely from an electronics design perspective; I would have to say that the cable is particularly badly designed. It is not unreasonable to expect the users of these cables to unplug them by giving the cable a tug. However, the wires in the photo shown are connected directly to the PCB without any physical anchor or stress suppression (even mini cable ties would have helped here) therefore if the cable is given a sharp tug all of the force is transferred thought the shortest cable (green in the photo) which will eventually lead to failure of the soldered joint. This is one reason the many "cheap" cables have the plug housings moulded on, as this acts as the support of the wires as well as being cheap to fit. It seems strange that Apple who excel in most areas of their manufacture should leave such a fundamentally important feature down to the luck of the draw once its in the users hands. The fix: apple could replace the shell design with a moulded plug or injection fill with a silicon compound on assembly.

 

[Pinkpoison]

Speaking purely from an electronics design perspective; I would have to say that the cable is particularly badly designed. It is not unreasonable to expect the users of these cables to unplug them by giving the cable a tug. However, the wires in the photo shown are connected directly to the PCB without any physical anchor or stress suppression (even mini cable ties would have helped here) therefore if the cable is given a sharp tug all of the force is transferred thought the shortest cable (green in the photo) which will eventually lead to failure of the soldered joint. This is one reason the many "cheap" cables have the plug housings moulded on, as this acts as the support of the wires as well as being cheap to fit. It seems strange that Apple who excel in most areas of their manufacture should leave such a fundamentally important feature down to the luck of the draw once its in the users hands. The fix: apple could replace the shell design with a moulded plug or injection fill with a silicon compound on assembly.

Hmmmm, thanks for that info....interesting!

 

[musiclover77]

Speaking purely from an electronics design perspective; I would have to say that the cable is particularly badly designed. It is not unreasonable to expect the users of these cables to unplug them by giving the cable a tug. However, the wires in the photo shown are connected directly to the PCB without any physical anchor or stress suppression (even mini cable ties would have helped here) therefore if the cable is given a sharp tug all of the force is transferred thought the shortest cable (green in the photo) which will eventually lead to failure of the soldered joint. This is one reason the many "cheap" cables have the plug housings moulded on, as this acts as the support of the wires as well as being cheap to fit. It seems strange that Apple who excel in most areas of their manufacture should leave such a fundamentally important feature down to the luck of the draw once its in the users hands. The fix: apple could replace the shell design with a moulded plug or injection fill with a silicon compound on assembly.

I am pretty sure I recently bought something more or less like what you describe. It is a lightning cable, but it was not made by Apple.

 

[kruseanderson]

Would a section of heat shrink help? It would have to extend from over the plug to a couple inches down the cord.

Just a thought.

 

[Quake5254]

Would a section of heat shrink help? It would have to extend from over the plug to a couple inches down the cord. Just a thought.

That's what I'm thinking to. But, will apple still replace the cable if it is altered?

 

[musiclover77]

My replacement 3rd party cable quit working this morning.. This is getting ridiculous. I did take one of my broken cables into
The Apple store and they were quick to replace it without any issue.. That much is good.

 

[xrayeyes]

Now I'm getting a bit worried about this issue. Good to know that Apple will replace easily, but the closest location for me is almost an hour. I wonder if Verizon will do the same if I bought from them?

 

[hoben02]

I just go on ebay and buy the knockoff 3rd party cables in china. When i was in shenzhen, china was picking up cables that were six feet in length(because i wanted to lay in bed and charge the iphone). I am getting the dreaded ios 7 warning messages but the technique where you plug/unplug and dismiss the messages is working for me. Have gotten some bad cables but then when apple wants $30 a cable i can afford a few bad ones

 

[Pinkpoison]

I just go on ebay and buy the knockoff 3rd party cables in china. When i was in shenzhen, china was picking up cables that were six feet in length(because i wanted to lay in bed and charge the iphone). I am getting the dreaded ios 7 warning messages but the technique where you plug/unplug and dismiss the messages is working for me. Have gotten some bad cables but then when apple wants $30 a cable i can afford a few bad ones

I really wouldn't trust my expensive devices to cheap knock off cables, there was a thread on here recently about people being electrocuted so be careful.