Pay 79 euros for a USB-C cable You may find it insulting, especially when similar cables with the same features are sold on the market for 3 times less. But reality is far from first appearances, and that is exactly what we are going to see below. Is Apple generating big profits with these Mac accessories? What is hidden behind these simple accessories?
Dissecting an Apple cable
Lumafield is a company that develops tools for engineers with which they can carry out product design research and development work at incredible levels, since with the help of X-ray scanners, they are able to see the inside of a product without the need for touch him.
In this way, flaws in the design of a product, assembly errors and problems that would be impossible to see even with the device disassembled can be found. So with the idea of ​​promoting their tools and demonstrating how useful they can be, they have decided to share some images taken with their tool so that we can understand why a 4W Thunderbolt 100 cable It costs 79 euros, and not the 25 euros that a compatible model from other brands can cost.
And since a picture is worth a thousand words, the photo they publish with the comparison of 4 different cables is descriptive enough to understand where the shots are going.
What's inside Apple's $129 Thunderbolt cable? We CT scanned one to find out, and compared it to some cheaper cables… 淋 pic.twitter.com/dkhrhK3pXB
— Jon Bruner (@JonBruner) October 18, 2023
A high-end cable
The first thing we must understand is that the way to classify a cable as better or worse is based on a series of basic characteristics. A cable can have more or fewer pins and be perfectly compatible, use cables with a greater amount of copper, have a greater or lesser level of shielding and even include electronics to control energy consumption. And precisely all that is what happens in Apple models.
And that is exactly what a recent Lumafield study has proven by analyzing under its X ray machine a selection of cables of all types of prices, ranging from 79 euros for the official Apple cable to a $5 USB-C. And the results could not be clearer.
Cheap is expensive
It is often said that cheap is expensive, and when we talk about cables with certain certifications, which are going to be used to support large amounts of energy, all caution is unnecessary. And even more so when these cables are going to connect very expensive equipment, where in a professional environment reliability and guarantee are sought.
Well, the cheapest cable models simply save on everything that can be saved, and basically seek to obtain connectivity with which to offer just enough to achieve data and energy transfer. You just have to take a look to see that sometimes they are even used fewer cables than recommended, and even though the connector has 8 pins, only 4 are directly connected to the wiring.
Costs are also reduced in the protective casing, the chassis and the level of shielding of the cable, which in addition to protecting interference, achieves greater strength against twisting. All of this is conspicuous by its absence in the most economical models.
Apple has the perfect cable
Let's call perfect the cable that complies with all regulations, and also in excess. That would be the way to describe the Thunderbolt 4 cable that Apple sells in its store, where the model of 1,8 meters currently costs 79 euros. The scanner images reveal the meticulous engineering work that hides the cable, starting with the stainless steel chassis, the sealed plastic cover and the internal circuitry that controls energy management, where corrugated tracks have even been included to equalize the length. with respect to others, and thus achieve the same latency in the way in which electricity moves.
All cables have shielding protection, and they get as close as possible to the connector to be soldered, giving rise to a total of 24 effective pins. In short, a simple cable hides an abysmal work of engineering, only visible to the eyes of an X-ray machine.
Are cheap cables dangerous?
As always, the best measure you can have when faced with these types of doubts is common sense. If you are going to charge laptops with many watts, or are going to transport large amounts of data, it is best to invest in a quality cable. If you are going to charge a mobile phone, a mid-low price model will be ideal, but we do not recommend extremely cheap cables either, since their useful life is shorter, so you will end up wasting money.
Source: Lumafield