After a User Dies, Apple Warns Against Counterfeit Chargers 457
After a Chinese woman was earlier this month evidently electrocuted while talking on her iPhone while it was plugged in to charge, Apple is warning users to avoid counterfeit chargers. From CNet:
"Last week, reports surfaced in China that suggested the woman, Ma Ailun, might have been using a third-party charger designed to look like the real thing. Although third-party chargers are not uncommon, they vary widely in terms of safety and quality.
Earlier this year, safety consulting and certification company UL issued a warning that counterfeit Apple USB chargers were making the rounds and that consumers should be on the lookout for them due to their lower quality and possibly dangerous defects. The company posted the guidance on its site after a woman was allegedly electrocuted while answering a call on her iPhone."
Smart move (Score:5, Interesting)
Whether or not the counterfeit charger was the cause, they have reinforced their image and promoted their chargers (as well as discouraging customers from buying their chargers elsewhere).
Re:Smart move (Score:2, Interesting)
Stinks of BS PR to me. "Might" have been using a 3rd party charger? Please... Get the facts first and then release the article. What if it turns out the charger was an official apple one? Huh? Then what?
Re:Smart move (Score:4, Interesting)
"The Apple charger has a standard USB power port."
Wrong.
http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass_docs [usb.org]
Read the v1.2 specification.
Then check the voltages/resistances between D+ and D- of an Apple "dumb charger" for compliance to that specification.
Or take my word for it: It will fail. Floating one pin at 2.0 volts and one at 2.8 with resistive voltage dividers is NOT compliant with that specification.
Cheap adapter AND APPLE's fault (Score:4, Interesting)
The cheap adapter may have sent big voltage to the phone connecteor... But IT'S THE APPLE DESIGN that bring that voltage outside the phone...
If the two leads of the charger are (relative to ground) 220V and (220+5)V, the phone should charge just fine and the user would still be fine...
If the charger send a rogue voltage (like 0V and 220V), the phone internals should get fried... but the user should still be fine...
But some retard thought it'd be cool to use the metal frame of the phone as an antenna... This lead to the "antenna-gate" with people losing their phone signal when holding the phone the wrong way, but that part is more funny than other. But this also mean that any invalid voltage sent to the phone connector may also reach that metallic frame and the user... With the sad consequences that you've seen here !!!
When you see electrical recommendation for electric appliances, you see that the box of an electric device should be grounded or completely insulated... Apple failed that basic recommendation... and THEY are responsible for that part.
Any phone charger can go rogue... this is even true for Apple's "official" chargers (even if risks are lower).