Are all iPhone Lightning cables created EQUAL? - Charge Tests, Tips for FAKE cables & Tear Downs

Do you ever wonder how good those cables being sold at gas stations are? How about those lightning cables that are a fraction of the cost of the Apple ones? Do you know what a MFI certified cable is? Does it matter?

Now I’ve never really given any thought to the cables that charge my devices because I’ve never lost a cable nor and out of all the years of using iPhones, the only time I’ve gone and bought cables is for this video.

So does it matter? The short answer is yes. But the difference stops at non-MFI and MFI cables. The line between the two is pretty clear.

0:03:22 - 30 min Lightning Cable Charge Tests
0:04:24 - 30 min USB-C to Lightning Cable Charge Tests
0:05:11 - Full Charge Tests with fake cable and real cable
0:07:30 - 7 Tips for spotting fake Apple Cables
0:11:15 - Lightning cable tear down

Out of this entire video, I found that the Anker Powerline cable being the best valued cable.

Get the Anker Powerline on Amazon!
Amazon US: http://mreh.ca/2wFRgnI
Amazon CA: http://mreh.ca/2wFRhrM
Amazon UK: http://mreh.ca/2wFRj2S
Amazon DE: http://mreh.ca/2wFRhYO

Or get it on eBay: http://mreh.ca/2wFRkns

MFI accessory test: https://mfi.apple.com/MFiWeb/getAPS

How to spot fake cables: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204566

For this video, I compared the cables from Mayshion (cheapest), a gas station cable, cables from Amazon basics, Thanotech, Awesome Cable as well as stock Apple cables (5 year old cable and 2 year old cable).

My first test involved letting the cables charge an iPhone from dead for 30 mins. I used the same plug and outlet to ensure that every charge test was the same.

The results from the first test clearly showed a difference between non-MFI cables and MFI cables. The the Mayshion and Gas Station cable both charged much slower when compared to the other cables that were MFI certified.

What stood out to me was the fact that my old iPhone 5 Lightning cable charged just as well as the normal MFI cables. I thought the age of the cable would effect the charge rate.

The Gas Station cable was much slower which is important to note for the tear downs.

The ESR USB-C cable didn't perform as well which was suprising but digging a bit more into the product, I discovered that there aren't any MFI USB-C to Lightning cables yet because Apple hasn't released that standard. So if you're thinking you can get around the $25 Apple cable, you can't.

The next test involved measuring the charge from the Gas station cable, Mayshion cable and Apple Cable every 10 minutes from dead to full.

At the end of the test, I calculated that between the gas station lightning cable and Apple cable, you would save 300 charging hours a year. The price difference between the two products is $10 dollars so in my mind, the more expensive Apple cable is worth it.

OR you could go with the Anker Powerline, which is MFI certified, which COSTS the SAME as the gas station cable.

When it comes to spotting fake Apple cables, there are 7 things to look for. The first four deal with the USB-A head and include the finish of the head, the color of the contacts, the smoothness of the insulator and the distance between the interlocks.

We did notice that certain MFI approved cables didn't meet all these criteria. Either Apple has loosened the standard or the support article wasn't completely accurate.

For the Lighning cable head, certified products need to be once piece and the contacts are smooth and uniform in size. It was surprising to see how different the build qualities between the cables were.

The last thing I did was tear down the cables. The Gas Station cable came apart quite easily. So easily that in the process of taking the rubber head off the connector, I tore a chip of the circuit board. Not a good indication of build quality.

The Apple and Anker cables were a pain to take off. The cheap cables only had 1-layer of protection between the user and circuit board whereas MFI products had 3-4.

I actually had to bust out the Dremel to cut through the insulative sleeve on the products.

At the end of the day, the poorest built cables charged the slowest and the toughest cables charged the iPhone normally.

So yeah, stay away from the cheap stuff!
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