First $3.50 Fully Working Knock-off Lightning To USB Cable [Teardown]

Frank Donghi of Toxic Cables has obtained a fully functional knock-off Lightning to USB cable from China for $3.50, a teardown of which reveals lack of proper shielding when compared to Apple’s official cables, though the cable works perfectly for charging and syncing (via Apple Insider).

The sources points out that the knock-off Lightning to USB cable provides a “very noisy” connection when used with external music players because “there is no shielding of any sort”. On taking the cable apart to examine its integrated chips, Frank found that the knock-off Lightning connector still works properly, even though he noticed extremely poor build quality.

“Donghi added that there are 10 different kinds of knock-off Lightning cables and accessories currently being manufactured in China. He said it’s possible that some of the other counterfeit cables could be of higher quality, but the one he obtained is very cheaply made”.

Apple is expected to hold an official “Made for iPhone” conference on 7th November to discuss the terms of the Lightning connector with third-party accessory manufacturers.