3 ms·

Their size and demonstrated product quality in other areas, plus this guy’s tear down: http://www.righto.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-quality.html

Their size and demonstrated product quality in other areas, plus this guy’s tear down: http://www.righto.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-quality.html http://www.righto.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-...

ChuckNorris89 6y ago
>Their size How do you judge the quality and safety of charger purely by size? Is bigger safer, or is smaller safer? And if so, why don't other brands of the same size meet your quality standard based on that yardstick. >and demonstrated product quality in other areas Like their multi-year run of defective butterfly keyboards or hinge design that would cut through the MacBooks display cable over time causing the famous "stagelight effect" AKA "flexgate" where you'd being charged $600 to fix the $6 ribbon cable[1]? [1]https://www.extremetech.com/computing/284236-some-apple-laptops-require-600-repair-to-fix-6-problem-flexgate https://www.extremetech.com/computing/284236-some-apple-lapt... Edit: Ah, I see the downvotes are already here. I guess criticism of Apple with proof is not tolerated on HN.
- thaumasiotes 6y ago
  > How do you judge the quality and safety of charger purely by size? I'm pretty sure spoonjim was referring to the size of Apple, not the size of the chargers they make.
  - ChuckNorris89 6y ago
    Ok, but then there are other huge electronics brands like Samsung or Sony. Why don't they qualify as "safe" by this metric?
    - spoonjim 6y ago
      Samsung literally sold an exploding phone.
      - ChuckNorris89 6y ago
        Note 7 did explode. But that wasn't due to them cutting corners and they took it quickly off the market and it never happened to another model after they learned the design lesson where you need to give the battery cell space inside the phone to expand. And how does one battery incident from one brand prove that Apple is the best at making chargers? We're talking about different things here. "iPhones don't explode so Apple must be the best?" Samsung Note 7 exploded before it was taken of the market, but any other brand or model did not, so unless you want to hang on the 2016 Samsung Note 7 incident as strawman argument, you have provided no valid arguments.
        spoonjim 6y ago
        An exploding phone is not a straw man argument. It’s an extremely valuable data point. Who is more likely to commit murder, a randomly selected person or a randomly selected person from those with an existing murder conviction?
        ChuckNorris89 6y ago
        Sony, LG and many other devices didn't explode, so why aren't their chargers as safe as Apple's by the logic of your arguments so far? How does one negative battery incident from Samsung prove that Apple makes the safest chargers of ALL the major electronics manufacturers? Because so far you provided no proof or arguments to support this other than "murderer" metaphors and opinionated brand loyalty wrapped in whataboutism focused towards one particular incident, then move the goalpost from safety to quality instead and I showed you proof that quality does not equal safety or vice versa.
        spoonjim 6y ago
        I never said that Apple makes the absolute safest chargers. What I do know is that: 1) major companies like Samsung have made huge safety blunders 2) Apple has no such history at scale (ie entire product recalls) and analysts find its chargers are well engineered 3) there is no 3. I don’t have the inclination to ascertain the safety of Sony chargers, I’ll just get Apple ones and leave it at that.
- vlovich123 6y ago
  Safety != product quality like the examples you gave. Charger blocks is the one spot Apple doesn’t seem to fuck around because of the outsized brand impact it would have (see Samsung’s exploding batteries).
  - tallanvor 6y ago
    Cables, on the other hand... I honestly can't remember seeing any other cable casings disintegrate like Apple's.
    - ChuckNorris89 6y ago
      Funny thing is Apple internally use Anker cables as they're much more resistent than their own. It's well known that Apple prioritizes thinness, aesthetics and industrial design over function and reliability which is ironic given how stupid the magic mouse looks when it's charging.[1] How Jonny Ive green-lit that is beyond me. [1]https://i.stack.imgur.com/WxNgu.jpg https://i.stack.imgur.com/WxNgu.jpg
      - andrewnicolalde 6y ago
        > Funny thing is Apple internally use Anker cables as they're much more resistent than their own. Source? Sound interesting!
        vlovich123 6y ago
        That does sound like an interesting claim & one that doesn't line up with my experience. When I worked there ~6 years ago that certainly wasn't the case. Maybe some groups did but I didn't observe that for the coworkers that sat around me.
  - nkoren 6y ago
    Anecdotal, but the only charger block I've ever had explode was from a MacBook. In its favour, it didn't fragment or catch fire. But as it shuffled off its mortal coil, the white plastic casing momentarily shone like the sun. Was pretty dramatic.

ChuckNorris89 6y ago

>Their size How do you judge the quality and safety of charger purely by size? Is bigger safer, or is smaller safer? And if so, why don't other brands of the same size meet your quality standard based on that yardstick. >and demonstrated product quality in other areas Like their multi-year run of defective butterfly keyboards or hinge design that would cut through the MacBooks display cable over time causing the famous "stagelight effect" AKA "flexgate" where you'd being charged $600 to fix the $6 ribbon cable[1]? [1]https://www.extremetech.com/computing/284236-some-apple-laptops-require-600-repair-to-fix-6-problem-flexgate https://www.extremetech.com/computing/284236-some-apple-lapt... Edit: Ah, I see the downvotes are already here. I guess criticism of Apple with proof is not tolerated on HN.

thaumasiotes 6y ago
> How do you judge the quality and safety of charger purely by size? I'm pretty sure spoonjim was referring to the size of Apple, not the size of the chargers they make.
- ChuckNorris89 6y ago
  Ok, but then there are other huge electronics brands like Samsung or Sony. Why don't they qualify as "safe" by this metric?
  - spoonjim 6y ago
    Samsung literally sold an exploding phone.
    - ChuckNorris89 6y ago
      Note 7 did explode. But that wasn't due to them cutting corners and they took it quickly off the market and it never happened to another model after they learned the design lesson where you need to give the battery cell space inside the phone to expand. And how does one battery incident from one brand prove that Apple is the best at making chargers? We're talking about different things here. "iPhones don't explode so Apple must be the best?" Samsung Note 7 exploded before it was taken of the market, but any other brand or model did not, so unless you want to hang on the 2016 Samsung Note 7 incident as strawman argument, you have provided no valid arguments.
      - spoonjim 6y ago
        An exploding phone is not a straw man argument. It’s an extremely valuable data point. Who is more likely to commit murder, a randomly selected person or a randomly selected person from those with an existing murder conviction?
        ChuckNorris89 6y ago
        Sony, LG and many other devices didn't explode, so why aren't their chargers as safe as Apple's by the logic of your arguments so far? How does one negative battery incident from Samsung prove that Apple makes the safest chargers of ALL the major electronics manufacturers? Because so far you provided no proof or arguments to support this other than "murderer" metaphors and opinionated brand loyalty wrapped in whataboutism focused towards one particular incident, then move the goalpost from safety to quality instead and I showed you proof that quality does not equal safety or vice versa.
        spoonjim 6y ago
        I never said that Apple makes the absolute safest chargers. What I do know is that: 1) major companies like Samsung have made huge safety blunders 2) Apple has no such history at scale (ie entire product recalls) and analysts find its chargers are well engineered 3) there is no 3. I don’t have the inclination to ascertain the safety of Sony chargers, I’ll just get Apple ones and leave it at that.
vlovich123 6y ago
Safety != product quality like the examples you gave. Charger blocks is the one spot Apple doesn’t seem to fuck around because of the outsized brand impact it would have (see Samsung’s exploding batteries).
- tallanvor 6y ago
  Cables, on the other hand... I honestly can't remember seeing any other cable casings disintegrate like Apple's.
  - ChuckNorris89 6y ago
    Funny thing is Apple internally use Anker cables as they're much more resistent than their own. It's well known that Apple prioritizes thinness, aesthetics and industrial design over function and reliability which is ironic given how stupid the magic mouse looks when it's charging.[1] How Jonny Ive green-lit that is beyond me. [1]https://i.stack.imgur.com/WxNgu.jpg https://i.stack.imgur.com/WxNgu.jpg
    - andrewnicolalde 6y ago
      > Funny thing is Apple internally use Anker cables as they're much more resistent than their own. Source? Sound interesting!
      - vlovich123 6y ago
        That does sound like an interesting claim & one that doesn't line up with my experience. When I worked there ~6 years ago that certainly wasn't the case. Maybe some groups did but I didn't observe that for the coworkers that sat around me.
- nkoren 6y ago
  Anecdotal, but the only charger block I've ever had explode was from a MacBook. In its favour, it didn't fragment or catch fire. But as it shuffled off its mortal coil, the white plastic casing momentarily shone like the sun. Was pretty dramatic.