Third Party Lightning Connector Cables Won’t Be Available For Two Months

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Chris



With the launch of the new iPhone 5 and the new Lightning connector, many people users are scrabbling for extra Lightning cables and convertors to supplement the sole cable that is supplied with the iPhone 5. There are official Lightning cables and Lightning adapters available from Apple, but for those who don’t want to pay Apple prices, Amazon seems to be an alternative to try and secure a third party cable or adapter for a much lower price. That may, however, be a little easier said than done.

According to a report from Gizmodo, it’s going to be a couple of months before third party suppliers are able to analyze, design, build and ship cheaper alternatives to the Lightning cables that are currently only supplied by Apple. According to the report, it’s going to be at least 2 months before cheaper unofficial cables become available, primarily because the technology that Apple has implemented inside the Lightning cables is not fully understood.

Therefore, if you are planning on ordering a cable from a third party supplier, be sure to check the shipping estimates before you do so, as it’s unlikely you are going to see that cable or adapter any time soon.

Wired

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  • cm477

    I tried ordering a cable through Amazon, but then cancelled it after I became aware of the authentication chip. Here is the response I got from the retailer:

    “Due to the recent development in one of the Apple factorieshttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444549204578020342979518814.html we are unable to get our product until late October. We are not sure if anyone will be able to fill in your order, let alone Apple itself. We apologize for the convenience, if you want us to refund your money, we can.

    “Some of the customers expressed the issue with the chip being inserted into cables. We will have the same chip manufactured into the cable that will allow for syncing and full functionality of the product.”

  • Prof. Peabody

    You might want to note that such cables will be technically entirely illegal (despite being sold on Amazon), and that they will only ever work for dumb charging. The chip inside not only authenticates the cable/accessory but is also actively switched by the OS depending on the use or accessory.

    The only way to replicate this would be to copy the chip design inside and fake the codes which is all 100% illegal without a licence from Apple. If they buy the licence to stay legal, then they will be the same price or (more likely) even more expensive.