Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

After a User Dies, Apple Warns Against Counterfeit Chargers

Posted by timothy on from the risk-vs-reward dept.

After a Chinese woman was earlier this month evidently electrocuted while talking on her iPhone while it was plugged in to charge, Apple is warning users to avoid counterfeit chargers. From CNet: "Last week, reports surfaced in China that suggested the woman, Ma Ailun, might have been using a third-party charger designed to look like the real thing. Although third-party chargers are not uncommon, they vary widely in terms of safety and quality. Earlier this year, safety consulting and certification company UL issued a warning that counterfeit Apple USB chargers were making the rounds and that consumers should be on the lookout for them due to their lower quality and possibly dangerous defects. The company posted the guidance on its site after a woman was allegedly electrocuted while answering a call on her iPhone."

10 of 457 comments (clear)

  1. Smart move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Whether or not the counterfeit charger was the cause, they have reinforced their image and promoted their chargers (as well as discouraging customers from buying their chargers elsewhere).

    1. Re:Smart move by Tough+Love · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's the "big lie". What is the charger for an Android phone? Oh right, a standard USB cable. What is the charger for an Apple product? Oh right, an electric chair waiting to happen. Compounded by the aluminum case. Hey isn't that the same aluminum case that makes an awful antenna?

      Apple: think deadly.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    2. Re:Smart move by Stormthirst · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I never understood why iPhone's adapter is a completely retarded pile of junk. What's wrong with the standard USB adapter like everyone else? Oh aside from them making a cock load of money from cables.

    3. Re:Smart move by Alan+Shutko · · Score: 5, Informative

      Nope.

      Both iPhones and Apples come with a little AC->USB charging brick and a cable. The difference with most Android phones is that the cable is a standard USB cable, not a 30-pin or lightning cable. But the brick is the dangerous part.

      Ken Shirriff did a couple excellent tear downs last year comparing the build of the Apple charger vs a cheap knockoff.

      You can have this exact same problem using a cheap knockoff with an Android phone so be careful!

    4. Re:Smart move by blueg3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not that I particularly like the cable, but some reasons are: It predates USB being a standard for charging devices. It used to need to support FireWire in addition to USB. It still supports running audio and video over the wire in a "raw" form (rather than as some USB data device), which is actually a fairly useful feature.

      Only the last of these is really useful any more. If that feature happens to be useful, the iPhone implementation is actually fairly good. Using Android phones as video sources tends to suck. A few phones have mini HDMI connections (note that the iPhone connector predates HDMI, too), but not many. A few have stupid proprietary HDMI + USB ports that at least are compatible with conventional USB-only cables. Some phones support screencasting or video sourcing through DLNA or proprietary solutions, but those require a network.

    5. Re:Smart move by cosm · · Score: 5, Funny

      Incorrect. The difference is the iPhone has the best new...
      (*_*)
      ( *_*)>-o-o
      (o_o)
      ...killer app.

      --
      'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
  2. Huh. by Entropius · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There are lots of "third-party" Android chargers out there -- ordinary MicroUSB things. If "counterfeit" (i.e. non-Samsung, or whatever) chargers were a problem, wouldn't this happen all the time with Androids?

    Sounds like Apple is just taking advantage of the opportunity to scare people into paying the Apple Tax.

  3. Re:Not buying it by MBCook · · Score: 5, Informative

    No one is being killed by the 5v on the USB bus. The problem is the counterfeit chargers are often poorly designed and can fail in a way that shorts the USB cable to the AC power.

    There was an excellent teardown & analysis of a cheap charger last year that pointed out serious safety issues.

    --
    Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
  4. Designed that Way by tuppe666 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The new "lighting" connector is very solid and handy, contrary to micro USB.

    Its designed that way for obvious reasons.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Mini_and_Micro_connectors
    "The Micro plug design is rated for at least 10,000 connect-disconnect cycles—significantly more than the Mini plug design.[38] It is also designed to reduce the mechanical wear on the device; instead the easier-to-replace cable is designed to bear the mechanical wear of connection and disconnection"

    1. Re:Designed that Way by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Lightning is also symmetric. I can't figure out why they didn't poka yoke USB-Micro. Every single USB standard is just slightly different but not easily apparent in the dark which way is up.

      USB-A, USB-B, Mini-A & B, Micro A & B. Would it have been impossible to make it completely symmetric and eliminated 90% of the problems I have with USB?