Chargers, Cables and all that mess!

Hello all –

I want to try and shed some light on charging cables and wall plugs. We see a fair bit of customers that either send a device in for a charging port repair or bring their device in due to it not charging. We many times simply plug the device in and it works here at the store. That seems strange to most people… however it’s a rather simple answer.

 

This shows the MFI Certified Chip that communicates with your Apple device. Many, many companies make knock off cables and charges $1.99, $4.99 etc… Well guess what? Those are not MFI certified and once you do a software update in iOS on your iPhone, iPod or iPad… it no longer will charge or be recognized as a working charger. Based on what I know from industry insiders the certification from Apple to use their OEM chips is approximately $5 to $7 USD per chip/per cable. So when you see a MFI certified cable by Belkin, Griffen or other brand name MFI certified cables for $19.99 you know it’s going to work. Not only with the current iOS software but future updates unlike the $2.99 charger you purchased a few months back.

Sorta reminds me of that saying… you get what you pay for? That still holds true after how knows how many years someone else mumbled those words. I’ve purchased a few of the cheap chargers and cables thinking I scored a great deal! Only to have one literally start smoking in my wife’s car… and another nearly burn my fingers when I went to unplug my iPhone. Ya that can happen. Fire, smoke, overcharging your devices etc…

Needless to say if your device is not charging we are always happy to take a look at it. I just wanted to pass along some knowledge before you bring in your device or ship it in. We get plenty of “Warranty” claims where they get their device repaired by Mission Repair and now days/weeks/months later they have a device that no longer takes a charge. Sometimes the simplest thing is the right one!

Happy Charging and be safe!

Jeff