Because you'd only buy one. They want you to buy many during your lifetime.
this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2026
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If you want the actual answer it's because you can't. There is very little voltage going through those cables, and there is no data line at all.
If you wanted to recharge your phone through a cable like that it would take about 10 years.
You can get high quality armoured recharge cables, they're not even all that expensive, you just don't get them in the box. Apple don't even give you a charger these days, so is it really all that hard to believe that they would give you the cheapest version of the cable?
Beat me to it. A lot of times, things lasted longer simply because they were less complicated. A phone cord is two wires. A USB-C cable has up to 16, and there is a lot more bandwidth being sent though them. Not to mention all the fancy handshakes that have to be performed in order for all the various standards the cable supports to actually work as intended. Besides just high speed data, you've got things like ethernet, HDMI/DP, Thunderbolt, etc. all going down a single cable. A phone cord only has to send analog voice. Honestly it's a miracle to me that USB-C even works at all, let alone semi-reliably.
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They can. There are brands selling durable USB-C cables, I think they cost around 20 Euros each.
For Apple stuff, they will make it durable once their customer base stops being a cult.
'* once the EU will make them
The problem is that you can't go just off of the price because there are shitty brands that will sell the crappy one that will break early for 20 Euros to fool people into thinking they'll last.
The cables that degraded that way were because they used a more recyclable product, they moved away from it and it stopped being a problem.
That so many of the Apple frayed outside cables survived despite the outside fraying is funny …
Their cables are now braided by default.
The “hating apple” or better yet “tech tribalism” in general is the real cult
Funny, Apple mainstreamed tech tribalism. Remember when they were so so butthurt when android entered the scene, that their whole cult started calling them poor people's phone? Their whole schtick was being an expensive status symbol? Suing samsung because their phone was a rectangle? Suing a pear brand logo because theirs was an apple. They had to go so low to green bubble android users to.make them seem like outcasts in group chats for teenagers? Tim Apple's "Buy your mom an iPhone" because they didn't want to support RCS?
You can "achsually" spin it however the fuck you want, Apple is THE tech tribalist cult, that other companies fawn over. Not the smart ones, the dumb and loyal ones who buy expensive shit no matter what.
Fuck all Big Tech. They're only after monopolizing the market for data and profits.
Apple mainstreamed tech tribalism
I assure you, from car brands to shoe brands to soda brands, brand tribalism by consumers has always been with us. On the tech side, we saw it with console wars of every generation, PC/accessory brand tribalism, even OS/software tribalism. TVs, radios, portable music players, AV equipment of all types, etc. When cell phones came on the scene, you had significant brand rivalries there, even before smartphones. (You see remnants in this when people get nostalgic about Nokias or Blackberries or Razrs).
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7 cultists and counting
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Because then they couldn't sell you a new one for $15 every 3 months.
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Well, think of the data transfer rates. One carries voice, which can be in the kb/s
A lightning cable can carry a few gb/s.
All this extra data weighs down the cable, causing it to fail sooner.
You can solve this problem by switching to light-weight data, or by simply filling your cable with helium to counteract the extra weight!
Calvin's Dad Explanation Award
extra data weighs down the cable
Does it really? I get that you're taking the piss, and it won't have any significant or even perceptible impact, but seriously does it?
Like it exists, right? I might just be tweaking here.
I'm gonna end up full Steve here if i think about it much longer
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I use these on all my cables both ends. This cable is 5 years old and still strong. Costed me 1 rupee per piece. Got a pack of 100 for 100rs (~1 us dollar)
I'm just thinking about the fact that they really GOTTA stop making white charger cables
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People seem to forget how easily phone cords went bad. We had to jiggle them or hold them at weird angles to keep talking.
You also bend, move, carry, unplug/replug, use a charge cable a lot more than we did land line phones.
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Enshitification
You can buy a coiled USB-C cable, I have a couple, they're pretty sweet. A company called Cable Matters makes them, they generally make quality stuff
The idea of a spring plus the poor retention of USB-C just doesn't seem like a good idea to me. Seems like these would just be a lot of cable coiled up to make a short cable.
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cheaping out?
You unplug and replug the top one more often than the bottom one. It's not a great comparison.
Also there are more thicker wires in usb c.
I'm in tech, I can answer this for OP (on apple's behalf):
Because fuck you, thats why.
FYI:
Greenpeace pressured apple to stop using PVC in their plastics around 2007
Apple realised they could gain PR while making more money by having customers needing to rebuy new cables.
You don't need PVC to create durable cabling.
And give up the opportunity to get applause for planned obedience? That is not how you capitalism.
Its quite telling that ever since apple got forced to use usb-c the quality of their cables made a huge leap. It’s almost like the availability of competing cables is good for innovation or something.
planned obedience
Might want to proofread that
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I have Sennheiser HD 280 headphones. They have a telephone cord for a wire. So good. So worth it. Cable still going strong after 6 years. And get this... when it breaks? I can replace it. They make spare parts. Saved me a ton of money in the long run
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Planned obsolescence is one of the cornerstones of our economic order.
That's why I like the chinese brands because you need thick cables for their ultra fast charging tech. Although the fast charging are a bit proprietary so you have to find legitimate ones online when they do break.
Because then you would only buy one of them
Back in the day, the phone was property of the phone company, so it was in their best interest not having someone come replace the cable.
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I actually haven't had a cable do this since I stopped buying apple cables. I usually will buy just whatever brand I find and they might stop working eventually, but rarely do they fray like those iPod ones used to.
Better yet don't buy apple products at all.
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