That teardown (and the similar Lumafield scan) is quite misleading, though. Nothing about that is Apple-specific, or makes the cable in any way "better". A sig

That teardown (and the similar Lumafield scan) is quite misleading, though. Nothing about that is Apple-specific, or makes the cable in any way "better". A signal will degrade as it travels through a cable. The longer the cable, the more it degrades. At USB4/TB4/TB5 speeds you can make a cable up to about 80cm before it starts to become a problem. Any cable longer than ~80cm needs active electronics to boost the signal's quality. Apple's cable is 180cm, so it has those electronics. Any 180cm long USB4 cable made by any manufacturer is going to have them.