B Check If Appl I Cable: Fill & Download for Free

Yeah, it’s money.Apple designed the Lightning connector as a replacement for their 30-pin iPod connector for several reasons. One reason was that the iPod connector patents were getting legal challenges, and that was the only reason Apple was able to require licening of iPod/iPhone add-ons. Another was that the iPod connector was not terribly flexible. They had redefined pins over the years, but it just wasn’t expandable. And the iPod connector was too thick. Apple needed to make a thinner device every year, and the 30-pin connector was getting too fat. I suspect it was also too expensive.So, enter the Lighting connector. This, of course, pre-dates USB Type C but not USB Type Micro-B. The Micro-B connector had one “alternate mode” as standard: it could turn into an MHL connector on most phones for video output. Apple decided to generalize this for the Lightning connector: the phone would read an ID ROM from a cable plug, that would tell it what the device was, and it could electronically route the proper signals to the general purpose pins on the connector. The need for this ROM, as well as patents, would also mean that 3rd party companies would have to license the connector… even for something as trivial as a power supply. It’s also thinner and cheaper, at least on the phone side, than the iPod connector.Not perfect, though… the contact springs reside in the phone, like USB Type B and Mini-B. The USB folks moved those springs to the cable for USB Micro-B and USB Type-C, so that when they wore out, you could toss out the $1.00 cable, not the $800 phone (or, well, pay to have it fixed).Type-C came along and does some of the same kind of things that Lightning does, only more so and industry standard. It can have a ROM in the cable telling the computer or phone what’s connected. It has standard signal assignments for USB 2.0 and USB 3.0, but it can run any number of “alternate modes”, in which other signals get routed to the connector if they’re available.Far as charging goes, Type-C can implement USB’s Power Delivery specfiication, which supports fast phone charging and even power up to 100W, enough to charge a laptop. A far cry from the original 2.5W of USB. But of course, any time they want to, Apple can add more proprietary charging modes to the Lightning connector. And they probably will, given that most premium phones these days have fast charging. The iPhone 7 does not. That said, some phones and tablets that can fast charge don’t ship with fast charging power dongles… worth checking into, if you’re not an Apple user.Apple has committed to using Type-C in their laptops. In fact, in cahoots with Intel, they defined Thunderbolt 3.0 as being a USB Type C port with a Thunderbolt 2.0 style alternate mode. Thus, Apple gets everything they want on a single connector, and Intel doesn’t have to get PC manufacturers to put in yet another connector as they roll out chips with Thunderbolt capability.But Apple gets 30% for pretty much anything that connects-to or goes inside an iPhone. You can certainly charge an iPhone from a USB Type-C connector with an adapter. But don’t expect it to get built-in… Apple makes too much money on it. Nothing else really enters into the picture.

If you’re seeing breakage at the connector, it’s probably one of two things. Either you’re pulling the cable free by the cable, or there’s just very insufficient strain relief on the cable, causing the cable/connector junction to be a point of constant bending, which will eventually fatigue the wires.I haven’t had any problem with this sort of thing in my USB cables. However, Apple laptop power bricks are notorious for breaking at the cable/brick junction. My daughter went through three power bricks as many years. I eventually bought a spare cable, built a correctly strain-relieved junction using heat shrink tubing, and though it wasn’t quite as pretty as the original, it lasted until the laptop died years later. That’s 25-cents worth of tubing, Apple.You might check out the line of cables from Stanley tools. These are a bit on the pricey side, but they’re well-made, and they do correct strain relief at the connectors. They also include finger grooves on the part of the connector that you ought to be holding when pulling it free. They make USB Micro-B to A, USB Type-C to A, and USB Type-A to Apple Lightning connectors — possibly others.There are plenty of other rugged cables: some made of metal, some using Kevlar to reinforce the cable against pulling, etc. If you’re looking at a specific brand, look for some similar sort of strain relief. Find a place it’s sold online and read the reviews (don’t necessarily have to buy it there). There are plenty of “rugged” cables out there that look good “in theory,” but don’t last two months in practice. Maybe just a bad idea, maybe they made a good fix to the breakable parts but screwed something else up. You can’t necessarily tell just by looking.Also read for the specific issues. Some people have your problem with the connector/cable separation. Others deal with cables being smashed or caught in things. Still others have cats that eat cables, as does Miss Tinslee here.

The worst? Well, back in the day, the local company repair guy was ensconced in an office near mine. He always had a bunch in disrepair. Here are some examples:Smashed case. Cause? Drop kicked while user was running to catch a flight.Case OK, electronics destroyed. Cause? Dropped (I kid you not) into the Hotel Room’s bathtub.OS Wiped Out. Cause? Kids played with it over the weekend.(My Favorite) Total Loss. Cause? Packed in checked luggage with a bottle of shampoo, which subsequently leaked all over the unit during flight. (Shampoo is a corrosive!)(My example) Compaq 386 overheats & shuts down. Cause? Pull off the case lid & remove gobs of dog hair glued to everything with cigarette smoke particles. Then swap cables between A: & B: diskette drives because A: is dead & the owner doesn’t have the money to buy a replacement drive.(Honorable Mention) Still Works. Named “Baked Apple”. Old time Apple II ad showing a unit with a melted case from a house fire!From: " 2012 " October:(Image original copyright, Apple Computer)Cheers!