If there was one thing I could change about Apple (besides its prices), it’d be the quality of the charging cables that keep its devices running.
The other night, I had to order new charging cables for Apple devices.
My mom has what I believe is a third-generation iPad. It’s one of the last models before the charging jack at the bottom of the device went from the wide plug to the lightning cable. The cable she uses to charge the iPad is going bad. The plastic coating near the plug has deteriorated to the point that copper wire is exposed.
Apple, it turns out, no longer makes this particular cable anymore, so I had to order them from an “Apple certified” manufacturer from Amazon. Since there’s no telling how long this kind of cable will be made, I went ahead and ordered two. With shipping, the total was about $24.
I tend to prefer buying accessories made by Apple, not some third-party maker I’ve never heard of. My mom, whose generation is supposed to be even more brand loyal than mine, wasn’t bothered by that at all.
Spending $24 on a pair of cables isn’t the end of the world.
But I also had to order a new charging cable for my laptop. This particular model, known as the MagSafe 2, runs a whopping $74 at Amazon. (In stores, it’s $79 or $89 as I recall.)
In my book, that’s an outrageous amount to spend on a cable because its plastic coating can’t keep itself together. Here’s what the old cable looks like:
It may or may not be a fire hazard. But it certainly looks like one!
And I know for a fact I’m not the only one to experience this issue because ZDNet.com wrote about the problem of the deteriorating cables back in 2016. Their recommendation was to purchase a non-Apple brand, but that was specifically about iPhone cables.
The next cable that goes bad might be enough to make me look for an alternate charger for my laptop. But for $74, this newest one I’m waiting for had better last a long time!
