Or at least to witness how third-party charging cables can surpass the master. Give them a try to replace your old charging cable, which is getting wobbly as we speak. Some come in different styles, lengths, or skins that can resist sawing. Be it A, B, or C, something to keep in mind is that you should only get charging cables that are MFi-certified, meaning that they’re equipped with Apple’s chip to recognize, connect with, and transfer data to and from iOS devices smoothly and safely.įor your convenience, we’ve selected 11 MFi-certified iPhone charger cables that pretty much all provide 2.4 amps for charging and 480 Mbps for data transfer-amongst the fastest speeds available. There are two types of Lightning cables: the Lightning to USB-A cables we’ve all grown inured to since they’re the most common, along with USB-A power adapters and the Lightning to USB-C cables that Apple coerced upon us by giving out USB-C adapters and only putting USB-C ports on recent MacBooks. It’s not 2012, the end of the world is far behind us, and quite a few third-party cables have gotten ahead of the OG in terms of style, durability, and even versatility. Does that mean the Apple-made nexus of power is the best for charging iPhones? Not necessarily.
#Lightning cable free#
While it stopped giving out free charger adapters (why, oh why?), it is still generous enough to include a Lightning cable with every iPhone purchase. Detractors criticize this as a cult whose ideology borders on elitism (well… do they lie?), but Apple did invent Lightning cables in 2012 and has dominated the field ever since. I’m an iPhone, for crying out loud.Īpple users often have an unhealthy obsession with Apple’s charging cables. And please get a good one that fits well, won’t fray, and has good charging chemistry with me. It used to be on everything but now its only found on two types of devices. I know you’ve probably lost many and had to buy replacements countless times, but they’re the one thing keeping me alive every day. Apple has used the Lightning connector for seven years. I am once again asking you to please get a new charger cable. The next cheapest would be the Black Magic Mouse, which commands an extra $20 premium for a black braided Lightning cable or get a Magic Keyboard.Hey, it’s me, your iPhone. So actually, the cheapest way to get an awesome braided keyboard is to get a Magic Mouse, which comes with a white braided Lightning-to-USB-C cable. The following Apple products come with a braided Lightning-to-USB-C cable: Official Apple devices that come with braided Lightning cables I’m gonna use my M1 iMac’s Lightning cable forever and ever, but if you don’t own the svelte all-in-one desktop to get one, there are other ways to get it. People would buy the crap out of this like they did the official Apple polishing cloth. I reached out to Apple, but didn’t receive a reply. I can understand why it wouldn’t include a more durable cable with iPhones - so Apple can sell you a new one when yours breaks.
So why the hell doesn’t Apple sell this Very Good Lightning cable? I have no idea. Just look at this wonderful, good Lightning cable:Īpple really should braid all of its Lightning cables. This Lightning cable is nice and as high quality as the fabric-covered cable you’d find on the HomePod and HomePod mini, the magnetic power cable that connects to the M1 iMac itself and the MagSafe USB-C cable on the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, and the Thunderbolt cable that comes with the Studio Display. I have bent and curled and figured-eighted this special Lightning cable daily for a year now and it looks as new as it did when I got it last April. The Lightning cable is braided, which means the outside fabric layer protects the inside layer from tearing and fraying as easily. This Lightning cable is easily the best Lightning cable that Apple makes and has ever made. It surprised me, too, when I unboxed my M1 iMac last year and found a braided, color-matching Lightning-to-USB-C cable for connecting the included Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Keyboard. But did you know that Apple actually makes a better, much higher quality Lightning-to-USB-C cable? The Lightning cable comes free with new iPhones and Apple sells it separately for $19. The white gets dirty really quickly and the material (TPE) tears with too much bending and coiling and just plain daily abuse. Everyone knows that the Lightning cable that comes with a new iPhone is not very high quality.