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The other end being USB-A power adapters? There’s a vast number of those of varying quality. Some have zero logic and just output 5V/1A. No way they could be tr
by varenc 6y ago
The other end being USB-A power adapters? There’s a vast number of those of varying quality. Some have zero logic and just output 5V/1A. No way they could be trusted for this purpose.
call this a “safety in depth” approach
- jayd16 6y agoSo we should buy expensive cables and cheap power supplies?
- gok 6y agoThere was already a huge installed base of cheap power supplies
- chrisrogers 6y agoThose cheap power supplies are ubiquitous, so it's more about Apple building their cables to exist in the built environment than dealing with the fallout of consumers busting up their expensive phones by charging them on whatever's lying around. Guarantee there was a consumer study where they compared reactions between these scenario.
- varenc 6y agoThe manufacturers knows that if it’s their product in contact when a user is shocked, they will get some blame even if it’s “really” the sketchy power supply’s fault. And since some cables have these safety features already, anyone making cables without them will appear extra negligent when bad things happen. The world is unfortunately not very efficient.
- chongli 6y agoNo I think the GP meant the port on the iPhone as the “other end”. In other words, why not have all of the protection logic built into the phone?
- projektfu 6y agoIf the cable is dumb, it can’t switch the +5v power coming from a USB supply. If it can switch it, it’s not dumb.
- rtpg 6y agojust as an example, imagine you end up putting a fuse in the cable. If the fuse blows, then the cable can be easily replaced. A chip in the iPhone.... not so much. Though likely there's something in the phone _as well_ as the cable.