iPhone Lightning cables?
Share practical recommendations that address the author's needs.
Gandalf_The_Grey
Level 86
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Content Creator
Well-known
Forum Veteran
A review:
The Best Lightning Cable for iPhone and iPad
The best Lightning cable isn’t made by Apple. We tested dozens of options to find the best cable for charging an iPhone, iPad, AirPods, and Mac accessories.
www.nytimes.com
I think depends on the type of utilization, if they are to connect and stay still and don't move them too much a cheaper cable will do.
If they move a lot or stay in strange positions, its better invest in a good cable, I will give you an example:
The USB 3.0 and USB-C in my laptop are in a difficult position, so the cable safer a lot of effort, and some times they have to be removed to take the laptop. So if your cables are expose to some weird positions, its better be good and invest a Little beet.
Attachments
I am using basic Apple cables delivered with my devices and I see no reason to pay extra $ for braided cable.
And if you really want something else then go for a reputable brand certified by Apple (like Belkin or Native Union).
Correct me if I'm wrong.
But a cheap braided cable is just that, a cable that is wrapped with cloth/plastic. It could be of high or low quality inside. It offers very little protection, no shielding, and it could add 'stiffness' to a cheaply made cable inside so it appears more high quality.
A product where sheathing does work is armored electrical cables (Romex wrapped in metal). It is much more damage resistant. There are probably a thousand of other braidings/shieldings that serve a purpose, such as for either protection, EMI/RFI or foil sheilding, direct burial applications, etc.
Most of the braided cables such as cheap lightening, USB, HDMI, etc. are going to be there for looks and to make a cable 'feel' more expensive. It may offer more 'bending' or 'pulling' protection for a cheaply made cables.
I did purchase an Amazon Basics Ethernet HDMI cable recently. It had no braiding, but was very high quality for the price. I actually returned it because it was too thick (would have required a 1" hole through brick) and purchased a thinner, less quality braided cable instead since the application wasn't critical.
I agree with @pablozi though. Name brand over braiding for any cable. Apple, Samsung, Panasonic, Sony, Amazon Basics, Belkin, etc. all make great cables, braided or not.
To give another example and I'll end it here, I purchased a cheap CAT5e cable before that had no twisting inside between the pairs and was made out of stranded aluminum (definitely not CAT5e specs). It wasn't braided, but even if it was, it still wouldn't have made the cable inside any better.
But a cheap braided cable is just that, a cable that is wrapped with cloth/plastic. It could be of high or low quality inside. It offers very little protection, no shielding, and it could add 'stiffness' to a cheaply made cable inside so it appears more high quality.
A product where sheathing does work is armored electrical cables (Romex wrapped in metal). It is much more damage resistant. There are probably a thousand of other braidings/shieldings that serve a purpose, such as for either protection, EMI/RFI or foil sheilding, direct burial applications, etc.
Most of the braided cables such as cheap lightening, USB, HDMI, etc. are going to be there for looks and to make a cable 'feel' more expensive. It may offer more 'bending' or 'pulling' protection for a cheaply made cables.
I did purchase an Amazon Basics Ethernet HDMI cable recently. It had no braiding, but was very high quality for the price. I actually returned it because it was too thick (would have required a 1" hole through brick) and purchased a thinner, less quality braided cable instead since the application wasn't critical.
I agree with @pablozi though. Name brand over braiding for any cable. Apple, Samsung, Panasonic, Sony, Amazon Basics, Belkin, etc. all make great cables, braided or not.
To give another example and I'll end it here, I purchased a cheap CAT5e cable before that had no twisting inside between the pairs and was made out of stranded aluminum (definitely not CAT5e specs). It wasn't braided, but even if it was, it still wouldn't have made the cable inside any better.
Last edited:
I got Dark Grey version of Lightning cable braided from AmazonBasics since Anker's similar version was out of stock and Apple stock cable was failing to detect iphone sometimes. But if you are in doubt, you can use 3utools genuine accessories feature to check if cable is genuine or not (if you are getting stock Apple 6ft cable).
I heard Black and white cables of Amazonbasics had issues. So I went with Dark Grey 3ft cable instead of 6ft.
I had a look on their website and there's a lot of Lightning varieties to chose from, which one would you recommend?
Thanks in advance.
The ones we have are a few years old, torn or have exposed wiring (safe to handle). Some cables don't charge, hence looking to replace with better durability.
In this case I would go for a reputable brand like Belkin or Anker.
To be honest, my mom has an iPhone, I would buy this to her whenever her current default iPhone cable wears out:
Recently browsing
Members who viewed this thread in the last 5 minutes
