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Why are USB mobile phone charging cables so expensive?

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Avantegarde
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Why are USB mobile phone charging cables so expensive?

#431808

Postby Avantegarde » August 1st, 2021, 10:13 am

I needed one to charge my Motorola (Android) phone from my car radio. Standard USB connection at one end, 1 metre of cable, and a micro USB connector at the other end. Tens of millions are made every year to be, in effect, given away with new phones. Yet PC World proposed to charge me £10 (TEN POUNDS) for one of their Belkin brand cables. Why so expensive? I bought a similar one in a nearby high street shop for £2.50 instead. My guess is that the raw materials involved cost about 50p per cable, with another 50p for manufacturing, giving a factory-gate price of about £1:00. Add another £1 for packaging, distribution, marketing etc and maybe £2:50 is fair. But £10? I presume they all made in the same few factories in China, Taiwan, Korea or Vietnam. But are there really high-grade-therefore-expensive cables, along with a-bit-crap-but-cheap ones? Or are some retailers ripping off their customers? I think I know the answer to that. But it's not just PC World. Plenty of retailers on Amazon charge extortionate prices too. Does anyone have a genuine insight into the costs of making theses things, or the pricing strategies of the retailers?

Midsmartin
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Re: Why are USB mobile phone charging cables so expensive?

#431811

Postby Midsmartin » August 1st, 2021, 10:26 am

I can see some on eBay for 99p including postage.

Pc world and the like are exploiting people who don't know better, or who don't have time to wait for the post. The overheads of running a physical shop would make £2-£3 reasonable.

Itsallaguess
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Re: Why are USB mobile phone charging cables so expensive?

#431820

Postby Itsallaguess » August 1st, 2021, 11:24 am

Avantegarde wrote:
Does anyone have a genuine insight into the costs of making theses things, or the pricing strategies of the retailers?


Shops like PC World will look to take advantage of the first three words you used in your opening post, which were "I needed one"....

They're the electronic equivalent of B&Q on a sunny weekend - they know there's likely to be lots of "I need" shoppers around, or that sub-set of "My wife needs, and so I now need..." panic-buyers, and in that situation the retailer gains a bit of an upper hand in many cases, as they've got what you want, and the clock is ticking as to how long you've got to get it....

The secret is to try to be better prepared, and not put ourselves at the mercy of these types of outrageous price-hikes, but that's easier said than done in some cases, of course..

I'll second the recommendation for the Amazon Basics cables - they're really good value if they can be purchased with one of the free-postage offers, although I would just caveat things a little when it comes to USB charging cables, because some of the more modern 'high-current / fast-charging' processes can be quite sensitive to the type and length of USB cable being used, and I have found some instances where ultra-cheap cables have been made with such a low gauge of wire that the subsequent volt-drop has meant that they've been useless for high-current or fast-charging situations that other, slightly more expensive and better made USB cables have been fine with, so I think looking for a good-value sweet-spot will be worthwhile in some situations, if those fast-charging situations might apply to your particular charging application...

I tend to keep charging cables as short as possible, and also keep one eye on the gauge of wire used, which has worked well for my fast-charging cables on the whole.

Here's a short article on why wire-gauge and length is important in these types of fast-charging cables -

https://www.dignited.com/50782/the-tech-behind-the-fast-charging-cables/

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

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Re: Why are USB mobile phone charging cables so expensive?

#431827

Postby Lanark » August 1st, 2021, 11:45 am

Amazon Basics are just Chinese clones with an Amazon brand logo slapped on top.

In many cases they are stomping over intellectual property rights, which they get away with because they are too big to sue, but in other cases the items they sell are actually dangerous.

I'd like to think there is a sweet spot somewhere in-between outrageously overpriced name brands and dodgy Chinese clones, but I'm not sure if that exists - so many things are sold on the internet now and driven by nothing other than the cheapest price.

martinc
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Re: Why are USB mobile phone charging cables so expensive?

#431828

Postby martinc » August 1st, 2021, 11:49 am

Poundland sell USB cables, I can't remember the price but it was less than £2.50.

Infrasonic
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Re: Why are USB mobile phone charging cables so expensive?

#431830

Postby Infrasonic » August 1st, 2021, 11:51 am

I used to get cheap USB cables from Poundland, they never lasted very long.

I've since discovered that not all cables (and USB chargers) are created equally. Especially USB C which has far more pins and possible wiring combinations - if they get it very wrong you can potentially damage your phone.
https://www.androidauthority.com/bad-usb-cable-671023/


You can get USB A with reversible connectors now (like USB C) - Dewalt make some very good ruggedised versions with decent gauge wire.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DEWALT-Reinfor ... R5BVX&th=1

AF62
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Re: Why are USB mobile phone charging cables so expensive?

#431851

Postby AF62 » August 1st, 2021, 1:44 pm

Avantegarde wrote:Yet PC World proposed to charge me £10 (TEN POUNDS) for one of their Belkin brand cables.


Not sure what you are complaining about - https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/M ... g-cable-1m and if you think that is bad then sit down before you look at the price of the 2m cables.

Then of course there is what you could pay for four castors - https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/M ... wheels-kit

martinc
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Re: Why are USB mobile phone charging cables so expensive?

#431856

Postby martinc » August 1st, 2021, 2:11 pm

The Apple lightning cable has some logic in it that allows the phone to identify if a genuine Apple cable is being used, so if you blow the power supply chips on the phone with your pound shop cable they can charge for a repair (very unlikely of course).

Phone charging cables are much cheaper than gold-plated HDMI cables, I bought a £30 DVD-player a few years ago and they tried to sell me a £50 cable. Poundland sell 1m HDMI cables too.

pje16
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Re: Why are USB mobile phone charging cables so expensive?

#431857

Postby pje16 » August 1st, 2021, 2:20 pm

AF62 wrote:
Avantegarde wrote:Yet PC World proposed to charge me £10 (TEN POUNDS) for one of their Belkin brand cables.

Not sure what you are complaining about - https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/M ... g-cable-1m and if you think that is bad then sit down before you look at the price of the 2m cables.
Then of course there is what you could pay for four castors - https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/M ... wheels-kit

Apple products have alway been a rip-off
yes good quality, but ALWAYS cheaper elsewhere :roll:

doug2500
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Re: Why are USB mobile phone charging cables so expensive?

#432107

Postby doug2500 » August 2nd, 2021, 7:07 pm

How can any normal person tell the difference between two cables? Just spending more might get you a better cable, but it might have come from the same factory and you've spent more for nothing.

It makes sense to get a decent guage wire but it never quotes this, I looked at the dewalt one linked to amazon and it doesn't quote guage size.

Itsallaguess
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Re: Why are USB mobile phone charging cables so expensive?

#432111

Postby Itsallaguess » August 2nd, 2021, 7:21 pm

doug2500 wrote:
How can any normal person tell the difference between two cables? Just spending more might get you a better cable, but it might have come from the same factory and you've spent more for nothing.

It makes sense to get a decent gauge wire but it never quotes this, I looked at the dewalt one linked to amazon and it doesn't quote gauge size.


One of the single most useful features of the Amazon website is the search facility that we can use to search for terms contained in any of the product Q&A's or user-reviews -

Image

Source - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Micro-USB-Cable-Gritin-Charging/dp/B0778FV6K4

Have a go using the above example link, and enter the word 'fast' in the search box, and you'll find a whole bunch of Q&A's and user-reviews returned that contain that word, the vast majority of which are related to fast-charging processes, and assurances that this particular cable is capable of delivering on that requirements...

The above cable URL is just an example to highlight how useful that search box can be for these types of specific queries, and it's something that I use on a regular basis for many of my Amazon purchases to help give me confidence that a particular item is suitable for my needs..

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

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Re: Why are USB mobile phone charging cables so expensive?

#432113

Postby Lanark » August 2nd, 2021, 7:38 pm

Itsallaguess wrote:One of the single most useful features of the Amazon website is the search facility that we can use to search for terms contained in any of the product Q&A's or user-reviews -

The problem with that it you have to assume the reviews and Q&A refer to the product that's currently being sold on that page.

Now that Amazon will randomly shuffle reviews between different products from different suppliers, it makes their whole reviews feature completely useless.

I used to review things on Amazon but I went through and deleted all of my 50 odd reviews, once I realised the whole system was going down the tubes.

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Re: Why are USB mobile phone charging cables so expensive?

#432138

Postby servodude » August 3rd, 2021, 1:18 am

Lanark wrote:
Itsallaguess wrote:One of the single most useful features of the Amazon website is the search facility that we can use to search for terms contained in any of the product Q&A's or user-reviews -

The problem with that it you have to assume the reviews and Q&A refer to the product that's currently being sold on that page.

Now that Amazon will randomly shuffle reviews between different products from different suppliers, it makes their whole reviews feature completely useless.

I used to review things on Amazon but I went through and deleted all of my 50 odd reviews, once I realised the whole system was going down the tubes.


It's a bit of victim of its own success in that area
- once the reviews became a worthwhile resource it was worth someone's while churning them out for profit
- and then they turned it in to "praise for the seller's other work" sheesh!

On the cables front I have got in my head a list of manufacturers that I trust that aren't sufficiently popular as to be targets for counterfeit but neither are they "no name" outfits that do not care about their reputation (and I'll take a punt occasionally to test out others)

Things like Anker, Brexlink, Fasgear, Monoprice (Neewer for audio bits if I've not got time to roll my own)

I'll then look for bulk offers (or multipacks) of the cables I need on Amazon or Ebay

No matter how well respected the manufacture they do wear out, get lost, or get damaged (the spring clips in a microB USB especially!)
- so I've got a box that I keep stocked with spares
- and if it's looking low I'll fill it up

- sd

Itsallaguess
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Re: Why are USB mobile phone charging cables so expensive?

#432145

Postby Itsallaguess » August 3rd, 2021, 6:30 am

servodude wrote:
Lanark wrote:
Itsallaguess wrote:
One of the single most useful features of the Amazon website is the search facility that we can use to search for terms contained in any of the product Q&A's or user-reviews -

The problem with that it you have to assume the reviews and Q&A refer to the product that's currently being sold on that page.

Now that Amazon will randomly shuffle reviews between different products from different suppliers, it makes their whole reviews feature completely useless.

I used to review things on Amazon but I went through and deleted all of my 50 odd reviews, once I realised the whole system was going down the tubes.


It's a bit of victim of its own success in that area

- once the reviews became a worthwhile resource it was worth someone's while churning them out for profit

- and then they turned it in to "praise for the seller's other work" sheesh!


Yes, it's worth highlighting that care sometimes needs to be taken with the Amazon reviews, but I think sometimes these things are overplayed somewhat, and I do regularly find the functionality to be a highly useful resource, which can often be used just for investigative and educational purposes*, as a separate process to any actual purchasing decisions, but I do find it incredibly useful for both, and will continue to use it as such.

I also agree that it's important to find good value manufacturers with regards to price, but also in relation to things like returns and other customer-facing processes as well.

Like you, I've found Anker to be great on both fronts, but I'll also add ArkTek, Qiwode, and JuicEBitz to that list for cables too..

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

* on a slightly tangential but related point, I also find that Screwfix user-reviews can also be extremely useful for DIY-related stuff - it's amazing how much useful detail Screwfix customers are willing to put in their reviews, often as much related to the types of jobs they're using kit for as for the kit itself, and I'll always have a scratch around the Screwfix reviews for any DIY kit that they sell, to try and pick up related hints and tips that I'd perhaps never come across elsewhere...

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Re: Why are USB mobile phone charging cables so expensive?

#432152

Postby Urbandreamer » August 3rd, 2021, 7:29 am

I buy my USB cables from ebay.

The "USB" standard, is just that, a standard. For the most part it's easy for competitors to arise making and selling cables. Note the quotes around "USB".

Apple have a USB connector on one end of their cable, but it doesn't mean that either the cable or their device need totally comply with the USB standard.
To be fair they are not the only manufacture to do so. While Motorola had it's own quick charge protocol, QC is another. I believe that another "open" standard (PD) has arisen that is used for charging laptops, though some manufacturers may choose their own. The original USB standard was 5V at 100ma. ALL fast chargers have to exceed that. Many simply ignored the standard in the early days drawing 1 or 2A down cables that may or may not be designed for it. These days higher voltages and currents are negotiated using the data pins. Laptops can draw 60-100W through a USB port to change. That's 20V at 3-5A.

For what it's worth the last USB A to C charging cable that I bought claimed to contain chips ensuring that the protocol used at both ends of the cable was the same and to limit the current to 5A. It cost me the princely sum of £2.99 though I have no proof of the claims. While I have adaptors that talk the QC protocol I have no devices that I know for certain to use that or differing protocols. Non of my adaptors can currently supply 5A. It does still manage to charge my phone and transmit data though.

You may be interested in this link.
https://switchchargers.com/what-is-fast-charging/
Of particular note is the following lines at the end.
The big difference is USB PD uses communication lines to negotiate power transfer. While proprietary methods take over the data lines for their negotiation. They do so because legacy USB connections, such as USB-A, don’t have comm lines.

This suggests why there is a need for USB-C chargers and why Apple is supplying it's phone with a USB-C to USB-C cable.

Itsallaguess
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Re: Why are USB mobile phone charging cables so expensive?

#432338

Postby Itsallaguess » August 3rd, 2021, 9:11 pm

Urbandreamer wrote:
Apple have a USB connector on one end of their cable, but it doesn't mean that either the cable or their device need totally comply with the USB standard.


https://i.imgur.com/0EfA1P7.png

:O)

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

88V8
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Re: Why are USB mobile phone charging cables so expensive?

#433217

Postby 88V8 » August 8th, 2021, 9:45 am

And talking of charging the phone, came across this built-in phone shelf that clamps behind a socket..... for the man who has everything... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/352076426104 ... c6ad6ad10e

V8


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