Apple website warns against counterfeit & third-party power accessories

Posted:
in General Discussion
Apple has quietly updated its support website to warn people against using counterfeit batteries and power adapters, or even just some third-party options in general.




These products "may not be designed properly and could result in safety issues," Apple writes. Instead the company is recommending first-party power adapters, and directing people to go to an Apple store or authorized service provider for replacement batteries.

Apple often charges high prices for first-party accessories and repairs, which can lead many people to turn to outside sources. While certified third-party accessories are typically safe, unauthorized and/or counterfeit products have been known to work poorly or even cause fires.

Underwriters Laboratories -- better known as UL -- recently tested 400 fake Apple chargers, and found that 99 percent of them were unsafe. In October Apple filed a lawsuit against one counterfeit vendor, Mobile Star, accusing it of violating copyrights and trademarks through sales on Amazon and Groupon.

Amazon is reportedly poised to engage in a major crackdown of its own, creating a registry of recognized sellers that vendors will have to match against to get their inventory on sale. In its Mobile Star suit, Apple claimed that almost 90 percent of Apple accessories sold as genuine through the "Fulfillment by Amazon" program were fake.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 17
    If someone plugs in a counterfeit charger, the iPhone should shut down or present the user with a screen to sign away their rights to sue or seek compensation for death or damages.
    jony0
  • Reply 2 of 17
    And by "unsafe" they mean they can actually KILL you. They're designed and built so shoddily that failure of a single component like a capacitor can lead to the presence of 110V at the tip of the Lightning connector. If you're lucky, it will fry your phone instantly. If you're a little less lucky, it will kill you. If you resent paying $40 for a stupid phone charger, just look at all the cool options available from reliable known brands like Anker on Amazon, they sell excellent multiport chargers at low prices.
  • Reply 3 of 17
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    Some people are just very cheap, and when you combine that with extreme ignorance, you get a combination that can be fatal.

    Is saving a few bucks really worth the risk?

    Just because an item or a knockoff may look almost the same on the outside, that doesn't mean that it's the same on the inside at all.

    I've seen some tests of original Apple chargers VS some of the counterfeits, and the difference is like night vs day.

    As an example, they were measuring the temperatures of the chargers and the Apple was measuring around 40 c while in use, and one of the counterfeits was around 100 c.

    I pity the cheap fool who thinks that they were smart because they saved a few bucks. They must not value their own lives or the lives of their family very highly.
    edited December 2016 anantksundaram
  • Reply 4 of 17
    mknelsonmknelson Posts: 1,120member
    I liked an article one of my colleagues found a few years ago that went into great technical detail breaking down the poor design of a cheap adapter off Amazon. Safety gap between the 110V and 3V sections? um... nope. toss!
  • Reply 5 of 17
    Here's the best comparison tear-down and analysis between real and fake Apple chargers I can find:

    http://www.righto.com/2014/05/a-look-inside-ipad-chargers-pricey.html
    jSnivelygticus
  • Reply 6 of 17
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    They also need to go after those counterfeiting scumbags real hard. And sites like Amazon had better make sure that they are only selling authentic products through their website.

    Some of those counterfeiters and sellers should be put into prison for life. Some of them should be given the death penalty, if it can be proven that their intentionally faulty and illegal product caused a death.
    macseekeranantksundaram
  • Reply 7 of 17
    Thanks, this is definitely more Amazon crap I don't need.  Ration Al thanks for the link.  This seems to be a situation where you don't only get what you pay for, you get much, much more for the incremental amount.
  • Reply 8 of 17
    idreyidrey Posts: 647member
    I don't buy counterfeit, I buy other brands like Duracell or brands like it. Are there any problem with the cable? Because I hate the cables apple make, they brake too easy. I never even take them out of the box. I do use the original adaptor
    edited December 2016
  • Reply 9 of 17
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    I've had a bad experience and never once with an Apple charger. I only use Apple chargers now. Lightening cables could do with being a bit stronger though.
  • Reply 10 of 17
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    See, this is the kind of crap that we need to crack down on China with.  That country knowingly enables this kind of hazards to exist.  They know that a house burned down in the US will not result in any kind of lawsuit against the Chinese company that knowingly built a hazardous product.

    All that will happen will be the media blaming Apple the next time an iPhone or iPad burns on someone's bed.  Do we ever hear a media-outlet criticizing the Chinese knockoff manufacturer? No, and until firm, enforceable threats are made to China to clean up its corrupted act, it will continue on.

    Anyone defending the "I can buy an Apple cable for 3-bucks that works just as good as the OEM" is about as ignorant as can be.
    anantksundaramwatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 17
    Several Chinese have been electrocuted when they grabbed their 220-volt energized iPhones. Not a problem with plastic Samsungs. 
  • Reply 12 of 17
    volcanvolcan Posts: 1,799member
    The Chinese are very crafty. Only days after the Lightning cable was revealed with a tiny micro chip inside, the Chinese had completely reverse engineered it. I really don't know how you can prevent this sort of fraud. I guess it is pay back in a way. They invented gunpowder which opened a huge can of worms. Same thing with the US inventing the atomic bomb and Apple inventing the iPhone. You can't keep it in a bottle. It will get out.
    edited December 2016
  • Reply 13 of 17
    Apple needs to go after Amazon aggressively over counterfiets. At a minimum, it would be nice to turn tables on the iBooks-Cote-Bromwich crap that Amazon dragged Apple through. 
    apple jockey
  • Reply 14 of 17
    Agree with other commenters regarding Apple's cables... given their high price and propensity to fail at the connector end in normal use (as well as be susceptible to light abrasions), Apple opens up space for counterfeiters and loses both replacement sales and customer goodwill in the process. 
  • Reply 15 of 17
    Sweet, about to put a new battery off Amazon into my iPhone 6... what could go wrong?
  • Reply 16 of 17
    jfc1138jfc1138 Posts: 3,090member
    With all the counterfeits infesting Amazon don't they realize that has to start impacting purchases? Sure a counterfeit paperback is harmless enough but not some electronic fake that could burn down my house!
    edited December 2016
  • Reply 17 of 17
    jfc1138jfc1138 Posts: 3,090member
    Agree with other commenters regarding Apple's cables... given their high price and propensity to fail at the connector end in normal use (as well as be susceptible to light abrasions), Apple opens up space for counterfeiters and loses both replacement sales and customer goodwill in the process. 
    Not really: it opens some space for superior aftermarket manuf. not counterfeits that by their very designation are mimicking their Apple counterparts. 
    edited December 2016
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