Is this planned obsolescence by the manufacturer’s part? Are the cables just poorly made or the device just stops allowing a third party cable to be used after a while? Can your phone even tell the difference between a first and third party cable?
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Mostly the wires inside start to break and eventually can’t carry enough current to connect well. The quality and quantity of materials used varies, and cheap cables often have a lot more insulation than cable so they look beefy but the part that matters is quite flimsy.
Apple has tight quality controls, pricey but known quality, third party stuff runs the gamut from good to garbage.
They don’t. Cheap ones do. And cheap is not always in the price but the quality cable, although below a certain price range it is almost guaranteed. I have yet to replace any of my anker cables, but I also bought the “expensive” line too.
Apple themselves has a certain quality control, so you get a certain minimum quality with them, most of the time. Others may or may not have that.
As to telling the difference, as long as the cable meets certain basic requirements, your phone likely can’t tell the difference. Basically if it charges it recognized the cable and no longer cares. It doesn’t know for example if it is “slow charging” due to the cable or the charger.
Anecdotal, but I replace about one apple original cable a year for my family (4 main apple users). They do break at some point if bend often enough (as do basically all) and don’t seem particularly protected against it. Take care of your cables.
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