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Most 'Genuine' Apple Chargers and Cables Sold on Amazon Are Fake, Apple Says (engadget.com)
Apple says it bought Apple chargers and cables labeled as genuine on Amazon.com and found that nearly 90 percent of them to be counterfeit. The revelation comes in a federal lawsuit the company filed against a New Jersey company over what Apple says are fake products that were sold on Amazon. Engadget reports: When Apple got in touch with Amazon about the issue, the website told the former that it got most of its chargers from Mobile Star LLC. The iPhone-maker stressed that since counterfeit cables and chargers don't go through consumer safety testing and could be poorly designed, they're prone to overheating and catching fire. They might even electrocute users. Tim Cook and co. are now asking the court to issue an injunction against the defendant. They also want the court to order the seizure and destruction of all the fake chargers in addition to asking for damage
It would be nice to be able to buy real reputable chargers and batteries for laptops/phones on Amazon but, as Apple is now proving, thats essentially impossible. Its a better bet to go with something amazon basics branded than the actual OEM equipment, because at least Amazon will stand behind their own branded stuff. I bought a "Real, made by lenovo" charger laptop off Amazon for my T450s and it didn't have a serial number on it and it had odd markings that the real one didn't have. Counterfeit, for sure - theres no reason Lenovo would sell you a charger without a distinct serial number on it.
Doesn't Amazon have any power to stop sellers from selling counterfeit equipment? They don't have to vet the quality of every product they sell, but selling a new OEM product should require additional vetting. I don't care if they don't test a product thats clearly not OEM, then at least its a buyer beware scenario.
This is why I've resorted to buying licensed third party, such as Anker brand. That way you know it isn't Apple, but you know it is certified by Apple, and often half the price and better designed. I love the braided lightning cable I use now. And I know it isn't a knock-off.
Maybe if Apple didn't sell their cables for such obscene prices, there would be less market demand for Chinese knockoffs. If I can buy 10 cables on eBay at $0.50 each, I don't care if 5 go out in less than a month. Also, I've NEVER seen or heard first hand if one of the knock offs catching fire.
That is the one thing Apple does very poorly. It's 35 dollars for a lightning cable from the Apple store, and they last at most 6-9 months. Then the ends near the connectors start to fray until wires are exposed. Shortly thereafter, they no longer charge your phone. There are 6 people in my family, 3 have iPhones, 3 have Android. I have never once had to replace a microUSB cable, but I have gone through at least 10 lightning cables in the last 5 years. 5 of them came with the device (either iphone or ipod), 5 others were purchased from the Apple Store. All eventually failed. It's the one thing from Apple which drives me crazy.
There's a huge problem on Amazon - most listings for Apple chargers, headphones, etc claim to be genuine and very few of them actually are. Amazon doesn't seem to be doing anything to police it.
There's a wonderful solution though - buy the AmazonBasics version. You get something that you know works and it's a lot cheaper to boot.
(Funny how that all works out...)