For a very long time, I had not purchased a single Apple product. My first purchase was in 2016 and it was the iPhone 8, only because my cellular phone carrier

For a very long time, I had not purchased a single Apple product. My first purchase was in 2016 and it was the iPhone 8, only because my cellular phone carrier in the US offered a second phone free during a holiday special. I gave the free phone to my son. I have no complaints against the phone. Pretty solid build. It still works and is my primary phone and my son also is using his. A few years ago my son got Apple earpods. In December last year, the charging case malfunctioned (the lightning connector pin wouldn't sit properly) and we took it to an authorized Apple service center (here in India) to get it fixed. They charged INR 450 (~$6 USD) as the earpods case was out of warranty and fixed it in 10 minutes. The lightning connector pin had broken and the broken pin/fragment had logded inside the port. The technician removed it and the unit is functional again. The service center is not an Apple exclusive center. It is a multi-brand service center but is authorized to service Apple devices. (They were able to check warranty status etc.,). I had run through more lightning cables (mostly broken pin/fraying of cable) in the last 7 years than having to service the phone/other accessories.