iPhone 5 lightening cables are useless!!!!

GrayFox208

Techmaster wrote: »

Sorry mate, but even the cheapest MicroUSB cables can take some battering before they give in. Apple just want your money. Also, the infuriating 'accessory not supported' message would drive you nuts.

A company wants money? Imagine.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

GrayFox208 wrote: »

A company wants money? Imagine.

That's not the point I was making. Their cables are of very poor quality, and cost upwards of €15 to €20, compared to €1 micro USB cables.

As mentioned already, look at the reviews on Apple's own site; http://www.apple.com/ie/shop/product/MD818ZM/A/lightning-to-usb-cable-1m?fnode=ef89b351efb2e3f8ac01b0538c8ad9a999c77006ad237b4451ac6bda57bb17c8ef8727f54e3c1034acfd3fd4ebedee71a5cd83dd1cf422bd41a2e507ec028621ceb120a38dfc6dbfb4550d875ac4fa0e0d87614743eb5ff83baa5c36b69cb949af5a5976ba10859787f2effdf025c652

Really not good enough.

GrayFox208

Techmaster wrote: »

That's not the point I was making. Their cables are of very poor quality, and cost upwards of €15 to €20, compared to €1 micro USB cables.

I've had 3 generations of iPhones and 2 iPads never have I replaced a cable.

I bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab S and the charging cable was broken within a week.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

GrayFox208 wrote: »

I've had 3 generations of iPhones and 2 iPads never have I replaced a cable.

I bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab S and the charging cable was broken within a week.

Must have been faulty or else you were very unlucky, as Samsung's own cables and chargers are known to be very sturdy and well-built.

Either way, it's €1 to replace them, and no hassle with messages saying it isn't supported.

I'm surprised you bought an Android device, you seem to adore Apple.

GrayFox208

Techmaster wrote: »

Must have been faulty or else you were very unlucky, as Samsung's own cables and chargers are known to be very sturdy and well-built.

Either way, it's €1 to replace them, and no hassle with messages saying it isn't supported.

I'm surprised you bought an Android device, you seem to adore Apple.

Why because my cables haven't broken?

Curb Your Enthusiasm

GrayFox208 wrote: »

Why because my cables haven't broken?

Their cables have been universally panned by both critics and consumers alike. Enough said really. They are not durable enough for everyday use, unless you baby them of course. Cables should be able to be thrown into a bag for college or work, but these just break much too easily.

GrayFox208

Techmaster wrote: »

Their cables have been universally panned by both critics and consumers alike. Enough said really. They are not durable enough for everyday use, unless you baby them of course. Cables should be able to be thrown into a bag for college or work, but these just break much too easily.

Well maybe my ones are magic? Well I'm just saying I use them everyday and they don't break.

ShoulderChip

CJmasgrande wrote: »

I just noticed on the Apple Ireland Store the lightening cable gets a miserable rating of 1 star out of 5.

The vast majority of reviews too are extremely negative. Enough said

if Enough has been said, why did you raise a thread on the topic?

GrayFox208

ShoulderChip wrote: »

if Enough has been said, why did you raise a thread on the topic?

People love to moan about Apple.

él statutorio

Buy some Sugru and use it to reinforce the ends of the cables where they break.

They'll last forever this way.

TimeToShine

There seems to be a serious problem in this forum whereby anyone complaining about Apple gets lambasted beyond measure. OP is not some troll, he has plenty of Apple devices and has every right to complain if he thinks the lightning cables are sub-standard.

Some of the petty insults are a bit uncalled for IMO. Regardless of whether the evidence is anecdotal or not anyone but the most blinded fanboy should clearly see that Apple's charging cables are either a) over-priced or b) poorly built. 30 euro a pop is steep, no question about it - so you'd expect something with as much longevity as the Samsung equivalent.

GrayFox208

TimeToShine wrote: »

There seems to be a serious problem in this forum whereby anyone complaining about Apple gets lambasted beyond measure. OP is not some troll, he has plenty of Apple devices and has every right to complain if he thinks the lightning cables are sub-standard.

Some of the petty insults are a bit uncalled for IMO. Regardless of whether the evidence is anecdotal or not anyone but the most blinded fanboy should clearly see that Apple's charging cables are either a) over-priced or b) poorly built. 30 euro a pop is steep, no question about it - so you'd expect something with as much longevity as the Samsung equivalent.

And complaining here will do what? Do apples engineers read this forum?

ozmo

Oafley Jones wrote: »

Why aren't you returning them to Apple? I find them fairly poor to be honest as well. Massively overly complicated design.

I've heard in several places Apple will take them back eg - but in the abstinence of an Apple Store in Ireland (Compub and PC world are just re-sellers), where would you go to bring them back?

I have never broken one - but I have two broken ones belonging to other family members I wouldn't mind getting a replacement for them.

long_b

In my experience

Cheap 3rd party Lightening cables last days
Apple cables last a good lot longer

OP, the only long term solution I've found is to buy an official Lightening to Micro USB adapter. Whack this pretty sturdy but tiny yoke on the end of a regular USB cable and you're good to go.

Ciderswigger

Annie_Oakes wrote: »

I picked up some of the lightning cables in Tiger a few days ago. They're braided and look like they'll have a long life.

€4 for a 3-metre cable! Bargain.

I bought one of those cables for my niece and myself about 6 weeks ago. Was delighted with it but in the past few weeks it's been acting up - the cable has to be positioned just so before it will charge. Her one is a bit contrary too. Will bounce from charging to not charging a few times but for 4 quid, it will do.

endacl

Senecio wrote: »

I've never had had an Apple cable fail, never. They must be being abused.

Indeed. Bet they yank them out by the cable, rather than pull from the connector.

I've been using the same cable for my 80g Classic for about 7 years now. Good as new.

Your problem isn't the cables, OP. It's the teenagers. Make them buy their own cables. They'll soon stop breaking them.

Annie_Oakes

Ciderswigger wrote: »

I bought one of those cables for my niece and myself about 6 weeks ago. Was delighted with it but in the past few weeks it's been acting up - the cable has to be positioned just so before it will charge. Her one is a bit contrary too. Will bounce from charging to not charging a few times but for 4 quid, it will do.

Thanks for the heads-up, it's early days with mine so will keep an eye on it.

dodzy

Never had one fail, either 30 pin or lightening. Several in my house in use at any given time. 30 failing is a joke. Mishandling has to be a huge factor here.

The only gripe I would have is the actual solid piece that you would typically handle in order to connect / disconnect to the device is very small and affords less grip than a solid alternative such as a pqi lightening cable. Just seems more robust, and has more real estate to get your thumb & forefinger around than the OEM offering.

Creamy Goodness

TimeToShine wrote: »

There seems to be a serious problem in this forum whereby anyone complaining about Apple gets lambasted beyond measure. OP is not some troll, he has plenty of Apple devices and has every right to complain if he thinks the lightning cables are sub-standard.

Some of the petty insults are a bit uncalled for IMO. Regardless of whether the evidence is anecdotal or not anyone but the most blinded fanboy should clearly see that Apple's charging cables are either a) over-priced or b) poorly built. 30 euro a pop is steep, no question about it - so you'd expect something with as much longevity as the Samsung equivalent.

Since when have lightning cables been 30 a pop?

Savage Tyrant

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Since when have lightning cables been 30 a pop?

How much are they? The official ones?

Kimbot

Savage Tyrant wrote: »

How much are they? The official ones?

Cable on its own is €20 for an official apple one.

Creamy Goodness

They used to be €19. Now €25 on the official Apple Ireland store.

I'll admit that's actually pretty steep.

biko

I've had both lighting cable and earbuds break on me. Bought some braided stuff and take extra when connecting/disconnecting.
So far so good but it's inferior quality for sure, and particularly considering the price.

DubDJ

Have you tried getting new teenagers instead of new lightning cables OP?

In all seriousness Apple's cables are overpriced, €19 isn't cheap and then add on the plug it starts getting really pricey. I think at €10 they are a lot easier to swallow.

They aren't built to be rough and sturdy though, they follow the same design Apple gives to its products across the board. However they really should be built to take a bit of everyday wear and tear and last at least 2 years.

I picked up two official lightning cables 3 years ago and both are still in use and in great condition, I suppose it is how you treat them. One thing I always do is remove them from the casing and never the wire. I think that helps a lot.

Apple really needs to make them more affordable or durable. Either way it'll help solve the problem a majority of people seem to have.

Tefral

First thing i did was wrap insulating tape around the join between the cables and the connectors and they havent given me an ounce of trouble.

Grab All Association

iPhone 3g, 4, 4s, 5, 5c blue, 5c white, 5c yellow 5s, 6, 6plus, 6s. iPad air 2, Mini 1, 2 (soon to be iPad Pro) really crazy collector of phones here.

3x 30 pins have failed

4x lightning cables have failed.

I notice some cables are stronger than others. Both my 5c and 5s came with really weak cables there's clearly design/manufacturing issues with some of the cables.

I now use 2 Philips docking stations for charging and 30pins/ightnings cables for backing up and iPads.

Euronics normally have the docking stations reduced to €49

millington

I had a 4S for 2 years and never broke a cable. Also still have the original cable for my iPod Classic which is still in use.

Changed to a 5 about a year ago and have broken at least 10 genuine cables. Apple have replaced any I bought off them once I had the receipt number, to be fair to them :eek: still a crap product!

dodzy

millington wrote: »

I had a 4S for 2 years and never broke a cable. Also still have the original cable for my iPod Classic which is still in use.

Changed to a 5 about a year ago and have broken at least 10 genuine cables. Apple have replaced any I bought off them once I had the receipt number, to be fair to them :eek: still a crap product!

So you're going through almost a cable a month ? :eek: WTF are you doing with them ?

Ciderswigger

millington wrote: »

Also still have the original cable for my iPod Classic which is still in use.

Yeah, I still have mine too and it's really only when you look at that old cable and compare it to the newer ones (I've a 5s) that you can see the difference in quality. The neck of my one is all wrinkled up but I'm a hoore for using it while charging and causing it to bend, so it's my own fault.

But the OPs kids must be hanging out of them!

CJmasgrande

endacl wrote: »

Indeed. Bet they yank them out by the cable, rather than pull from the connector.

I've been using the same cable for my 80g Classic for about 7 years now. Good as new.

Your problem isn't the cables, OP. It's the teenagers. Make them buy their own cables. They'll soon stop breaking them.

I stated earlier the old classic and its cables are still going strong in my house too!

It's only an issue with the newer lightening cable for iPhone 5 and then on.