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Apple's lightning cable can't be cloned

Apple Lightning cable inspection finds an extra-smart connector, won't make for cheap substitutes -- Engadget

:yuno:

Quote:

Apple Lightning cable inspection finds an extra-smart connector, won't make for cheap substitutes

Apple made much ado of the Lightning connector it launched side-by-side with the iPhone 5, but what we've known about it has been limited outside of the presence of an authentication chip. Double Helix Cables' Peter Bradstock has delved deeper and tells AppleInsider that there's some clever wiring that clinches the reversible design. While Lightning's power supply is truly symmetrical among the contact pins, the data isn't -- which suggests a chip inside is redirecting data to keep the plug working as intended. The technique helps explain why Apple would need any elaborate circuitry in the first place. No matter the wizardry inside, Bradstock doesn't see any cut-rate Lightning alternatives being useful in the near future: as it's unlikely that anyone outside of Cupertino knows how the authentication works at this stage, clone cables may amount to little more than heaps of metal and plastic.

I'm sure eventually it will be duplicated.. Unless there's some special encryption or pairing on the chip to your actual device. Even then it's not impossible

meh..give it time... china can make replicas for everything.

theres and adapter that fits the old charger you can get too..

Can't they just disable the authentication process on the phone side so that it works with the alternative cables?

Quote:

Originally Posted by willystyle (Post 8039142)

Can't they just disable the authentication process on the phone side so that it works with the alternative cables?

thats what i did on my Video out cables from China. iPhone 3GS.

strangely on my iP4 i just bought the component cables. I didn't want to keep mucking about every time a new firmware was released.

manufacturers in china are reading this and their reaction... :accepted:

Aren't these already third party cables and adapters for iPhone 5?

Both cable and adapter for $15.

Landing

I believe the chip has to do with the data transfer only. Charging will not be a problem?

I read somewhere that the chip controls the function/data of each pin.

In other words, the pins on the lightning cable aren't dedicated. pin1 can perform the function of pin1~9 and vice-versa. The controller tells the signal which way to go and what to do. It's quite brilliant in design. But in order to replicate the chip, it all depends on how long the Chinese would take to reverse engineer that chip.