Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
Don't worry. We dived into the dreaded box of cables, identified the ones you need for different scenarios, and untangled them, ready for use. You'll find some advice here on USB-C, Lightning, and MicroUSB connectors, as well as a primer on everything you need to know about cables. After all, we're WIRED. No. While a majority of USB-C cables do support fast charging, not all of them do. In addition, USB-C cables that do support fast charging will support different speeds. Make sure that the USB-C cable you're looking to buy supports fast charging, and supports it at the speed you want it at. Can I use a USB-C cable with my iPhone? For charging speeds we recorded the maximum wattage at which the cable could charge an Asus ROG Strix 15 gaming laptop over its USB-C port using USB-Power Delivery with an Aukey 100 watt USB-PD charger as the source while the laptop was under load.USB-PD today is limited to 100 watts (with a 240-watt spec on the way). Any USB-C to USB-C cable should handle 3 ampsat 20 volts, or 60 watts.All of the USB-C to USB-C cables fell into the standard 60-watt or 100-watt camps.
It is safe to use your phone while it is charging, but it will charge at a slower rate. Heat is also bad for battery health, so it is best to take a break when your phone feels warm. The two shorter-length cables are passive, and the 6.6-foot cable is active. (Active cables have an extra chip inside to help them push data further without degradation.) I’ve been testing the two shorter cables and have yet to find anything they can’t do. The cables come with a one-year limited warranty in the US (lifetime limited warranty in the UK and a two-year limited warranty in the EU). I’m gonna use my M1 iMac’s Lightning cable forever and ever, but if you don’t own the svelte all-in-one desktop to get one, there are other ways to get it. Official Apple devices that come with braided Lightning cables Connectors: While USB-C is mercifully becoming a standard connection type, you want cables with connectors that fit your existing devices. Today, that still might mean USB-A, Lightning, or even MicroUSB. Remember that the capabilities of any cable are limited to its oldest connection type.Power: While cable manufacturers always list the maximum charging rate, your device will determine how much power to draw, so it's important to know what standards it supports and combine your cable with the correct power adapter. The charging rate of a cable is measured in Watts (W). Sometimes manufacturers will list specifications on the cable in tiny print. If there’s no W listed, you can calculate it by multiplying the voltage (V) and the current (A), assuming they are listed. You’d think you could tell whether a cable is USB-C 2.0 cable by looking at the wires in the connector but that’s not the case. Some cables use connectors with pins that aren’t hooked up to anything.
In the end though, it’s what’s inside a cable that matters the most and the Apple USB-C cable has top-notch wiring materials that can deliver the most power to your laptop, phone, or tablet. Want to charge your laptop at 100 watts all day? That shouldn’t be a problem for the Apple USB-C Charge Cable.Obviously, as a charge cable it’s terrible for data transfer and can’t drive Thunderbolt devices nor your monitor, but as a charging cable it’s excellent. USB Standards: The Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard dates to 1996 but has seen many new standards, revisions, and connector types in the years since. Instead of running through all of them here, we try to highlight what matters. We didn’t test the temperature of each cable’s housing, but we did test the cheapest cable by running it at 5 amps and 20 volts for an hour. The housing heated up by 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and the cable itself became relatively warm (see the thermal image below). Not ideal, but it did this without failure. We subjected other cables to two-hour loads without failure, as well.
I reached out to Apple, but didn’t receive a reply. Apple really should though. People would buy the crap out of this like they did the official Apple polishing cloth.Basic USB-C cables are passive and can only carry up to 60W. Cables that can carry 100W or more, sometimes described as active, must contain e-marker chips that identify the cable and its capabilities. In the end, Apple’s USB-C Charge Cable won us over and is actually our recommended cable for those who want a big name on the box and intend to use it for mostly charging. When we say the box, we mean it, because Apple oddly doesn’t include any branding on the cable itself, which is a mistake because you just might mix it up with a lousy cable. The Lightning cable is braided, which means the outside fabric layer protects the inside layer from tearing and fraying as easily. I have bent and curled and figured-eighted this special Lightning cable daily for a year now and it looks as new as it did when I got it last April. This Lightning cable is nice and as high quality as the fabric-covered cable you’d find on the HomePod and HomePod mini, the magnetic power cable that connects to the M1 iMac itself and the MagSafe USB-C cable on the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, and the Thunderbolt cable that comes with the Studio Display. There are so many cables out there, and plenty of solid options did not make the cut. Here are a few I’ve tested and liked. It surprised me, too, when I unboxed my M1 iMac last year and found a braided, color-matching Lightning-to-USB-C cable for connecting the included Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Keyboard. This Lightning cable is easily the best Lightning cable that Apple makes and has ever made.
Great Deal 
New Comment