It's funny to me if it's true that people buying $1000+ phones would all be buying those low-end white-label chargers. They are somewhat notorious for being unreliable, and even dangerous.
Edit: Yes, there's decent, branded, 3rd party chargers too. Just commenting on the really cheap ones.
Anecdotally, people I know who aren't tech people and who have expensive phones almost always have cheap chargers and off-brand charging cables. The general public seem to perceive that the phone is the valuable thing, a charger or cable is a commodity so they're all the same and work equally well/poorly.
Clearly this is misguided, but I think if I tried to explain how to shop for a good and reliable USB charger to my mom, dad, brother, or sister that they'd each roll their eyes at me.
Of note, the last time I bought a new multi-port USB charger (a few years ago now), it was very difficult to find one which was reasonably priced and which carried the UL (or equivalent) mark in the USA. Another previous multi-port charger I had bought made by Anker had claimed "getting UL approval" in the product description and showed the mark in the pictures on Amazon, but once delivered the physical charger did not have any safety marks present on it. The Anker charger failed after a year and Anker sent me a replacement under warranty, the replacement also did not carry any safety mark.
The Anker iPhone accessories like cables, chargers, and charging pads are MUCH higher quality than Apple’s. Their cables are so much better than Apple’s garbage cables which fray and break after a few months of careful usage. You wonder why Apple would damage their “high quality” brand image with their terrible accessories.
For some people, a $1000+ phone comes with bragging rights. The charger? Not so much.
I'd wager that's one reason some people buy the expensive phone and the cheap charger. The other is simply that most people can't tell the difference between chargers - they both charge, right?
I suspect it’s a mix, but if you stay off the absolute bottom of the barrel, there are plenty of third-party USB supplies and wireless chargers that work great and are significantly cheaper than the Apple ones.
Anecdote of one: wife bought an iPhone 13 mini yesterday at an Apple store and turned down all the hard sells on accessories and AppleCare.
Ok worthless claim then. I did buy 4 usbA-lightning cables to put in several places (iPhone 12 mini is my first iPhone) though. But not from Apple.
I also have a non-Apple MagSafe charger in the car. The only thing I hardly ever use is the included usbC-lightning cable ironically. They could have earned some more money on me.
tyingq|4 years ago
Edit: Yes, there's decent, branded, 3rd party chargers too. Just commenting on the really cheap ones.
bradfa|4 years ago
Clearly this is misguided, but I think if I tried to explain how to shop for a good and reliable USB charger to my mom, dad, brother, or sister that they'd each roll their eyes at me.
Of note, the last time I bought a new multi-port USB charger (a few years ago now), it was very difficult to find one which was reasonably priced and which carried the UL (or equivalent) mark in the USA. Another previous multi-port charger I had bought made by Anker had claimed "getting UL approval" in the product description and showed the mark in the pictures on Amazon, but once delivered the physical charger did not have any safety marks present on it. The Anker charger failed after a year and Anker sent me a replacement under warranty, the replacement also did not carry any safety mark.
bluedevil2k|4 years ago
frederikvs|4 years ago
I'd wager that's one reason some people buy the expensive phone and the cheap charger. The other is simply that most people can't tell the difference between chargers - they both charge, right?
sokoloff|4 years ago
Anecdote of one: wife bought an iPhone 13 mini yesterday at an Apple store and turned down all the hard sells on accessories and AppleCare.
teekert|4 years ago
I also have a non-Apple MagSafe charger in the car. The only thing I hardly ever use is the included usbC-lightning cable ironically. They could have earned some more money on me.
tonmoy|4 years ago