First unofficial iPhone 5 Lightning connector and dock surface

It might not be cheaper, but the first unofficial Lightning connector cable and dock pave the way for a whole host of affordable third party accessories.

Chinese company iPhone5Mod managed to clone the new connector used on the iPhone 5 within less than a month. Not bad work, considering the official cable includes an authentication chip to keep pesky copies at bay.

Before you rush out of the Apple store and purchase the cable elsewhere, there are a couple of things you should know. Firstly, China’s distance from the UK means you’ll be in for at least a two week delivery wait. And secondly, as all cables have sold out there’s also a processing lead-time of a month.

It’s also not that much cheaper at US$20 (£13) for the cable, US$20 (£13) for the dock, or US$40 (£25) for both. But, the cable does have blue lights that mimic the flow of electricity.

[iPhone5Mod.com via Gizmodo]

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Dan Grabham Editor-in-Chief

About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website.  Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.

Areas of expertise

Computing, mobile, audio, smart home