On one hand you have comments, replies and friends who have never broken a single Lightning cable in the pass 10 years of using iPhone. On the other hand I am may be on my 8th lightning cable over the past 10+ years of iPhone. And this one is from Anker Powerline II. Powerline III is even better but three years in, this Anker Powerline II is doing extremely well.
I have heard somewhere post iPhone 8 there is a "updated" version of Lightning Cable that is suppose to be more durable. But I have no way to fact check this.
Apple cables are notorious for wearing badly. I suspect it's because they favor very thin casing and for greater flexibility -- a lightning cable winds tighter than typical charging cables for other phones. MacBook Pro chargers also suffer from the syndrome.
Anecdotal. My third party lightning cables last forever now that I no longer buy the apple branded ones with that crappy insulation that frays when you look at them wrong
As a contracting data point, I’m still using my out of the box lightning cable of my iPhone 5 to charge my iPhone X. That cable is over 6 years old now and it did not break, stray or lost is reliability in any way.
Maybe they forgot to add the secret sauce to my copy, who knows.
P.S.: My iPhone 5s lightning port is also good as new. Just needs an occasional grime removal with a wooden toothpick.
I find the pins on the connector on all my lightning cables gets scorched and stops working no matter what brand or quality of cable I buy. It is as if iPhones don't limit current inrush and the gold plating on the cable arcs and is worn off when the connector is plugged in. The connectors on the phone, however, are fine for years.
Apple phones also last longer than other phones, and because their connections remain so standard, you can use the same cable for multiple phones. I've definitely destroyed some Apple cables, but generally they've been on their second or third device.
> I suspect it's because they favor very thin casing and for greater flexibility -- a lightning cable winds tighter than typical charging cables for other phones.
I'm not so sure about this explanation—the cables usually fail at the very ends, where the connector meets the cable itself.
Idk, lightning has the opposite problem where the contacts are exposed and degrade very quickly on the cable and need to be replaced constantly. Great for apple. And lightning has the gripping pins on the phone which degrade rather quickly too over repeated use. No cable is perfect I fear
I don't know what it is, but I've never broken a single Lightning cable since I got my first iPhone in 2016. I still have 2 new-in-box cables from upgrades. But a few weeks ago I was picking up a friend and when she got in my car she said "Why do you have the Apple cable? They're so fragile" and immediately tore the strain relief plugging her phone in.
I've had iPhones since the original came out with the big ol iPod connector on it. Generally upgrading every two years, except the last one which was an Xs to a 14 Pro.
I have never had this happen. I welcome the USB-C change, but I have never once had what you're describing happen in however many years the Lightning connector has been out.. feels like 8+ years, but without looking I wouldn't know. I've had, I think, one Lightning cable fail to work and that was because my cat chewed on the cord.
In practice none of that is true, the cables hold up fine and the ports wear out. Lightning was a FAR superior design and form factor to USB-C, where what you’re suggesting was actually the case.
I have never encountered an iPhone with a dead lightning port, it’s always the cable that wears out. There’s tons of laptops and android phones with worn out USB-C ports
I've had lots of trouble with lightning, mostly stemming from the power pin on cables corroding, which then causes arcing in any new device you use it in causing the problem to propagate
I've had my iPhone 11 Pro Max inside a Apple smart charging case since day 1, and for the past few months, the connection is really flakey, either one of the plugs is going bad. And its never left the case, the port looks very clean (no dust)
Flimsy cables are flimsy cables and they will break and fray. USB-C, Lightning, whatever.
The first-party Lightning cables from Apple have always been pretty flimsy so if Lightning cables have a bad rep in general, that's probably why. That's Apple's fault but not anything specific to Lightning.
I've had a lot of Anker Lightning cables and they're about as bulletproof as a cable can possibly be.
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