Apple 'added authentication chip' to iPhone 5 cable to stop third-parties making cheaper versions (then charges you £30 for its own adapter)



Authentication chip appears to stop unauthorised cables being used with iPhone



iPhone 5 owners told not to purchase cheaper cables as it is likely they will not work

Apple charges you £15 for a 'Lightning' charger cable for the new iPhone - or £30 for an adapter so that you can use your older accessories.

Fans might be hoping they could bypass this additional cost with the help of third-party manufacturers creating cheaper versions of the cables.

But it appears Apple has locked down its cables - adding an authentication chip which is likely to stop any other cables working with the £529 device.

No entry: Apple appears to employ a chip within the Lightning cable, to stop unauthorised cables being used with the new iPhone

The Double Helix cable team took apart a Lightning cable in order to find the chip inside

Apple has come in for criticism before for shunning the rest of the industry's EU-directed move towards a standard micro-USB connection.

And fans were left angry by the move to the Lightning connector which, while smaller and thinner, makes old accessories obsolete without the £30 adapter.

The discovery of an authentication chip within the cable was revealed on AppleInsider , a web site dedicated to the iPhone manufacturer.

The site spoke to 'Peter', from the company Double Helix Cables, who pulled apart the cable which came with the new phone.

From his investigation, the site warns iPhone owners not to purchase the cheap third-party Lightning chargers now appearing on eBay and other sites.

Peter dismantled the Lightning connector and found what appear to be an authentication chip inside, located directly between the data cable and the power pin.

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The inclusion of a chip tallies with the reported increase in cost to produce the cable, costing an estimated $3.50 to Apple.

AppleInsider said this was a 775 per cent increase on the costs of producing the previous cable.

While some of that increase will be down to the new design and economies of scale, the addition of a chip will have sent the production price upwards.



Peter said:'There is basically no way those are functional cables.



'You can't just build a Lightning cable by making something with the same shape and connectivity, and my teardown proves that.

'The chip has to be there, and it is directly in the signal path of the V+ wire.'