iPhone5mod is continuing its rapid pace of development on unauthorized Lightning-compatible accessories today, introducing a new direct plug 30-pin dock connector adapter and a Lightning to micro-USB adapter.
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Both of these products are substitutes for official Apple products, with iPhone5mod's 30-pin adapter available in both black and white and priced at $15.90, compared to Apple's official $29 adapter available only in white. iPhone5mod's Lightning-to-USB adapter is priced at $9.90 and is the equivalent of Apple's official adapter sold in European countries.
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iPhone5mod is also offering a 2-in-1 kit with both of the new adapters for $24.90. Shipping to the United States is $4 per item or kit, and orders should begin shipping in 2-3 weeks.
With Apple still yet to allow third-party accessory manufacturers to officially support the new Lightning standard, consumers are in many cases turning to unofficial sources for accessories that are either unavailable as authorized products or available at much higher prices from Apple. There have been questions about the quality of many of these unauthorized accessories, but some users are willing to take chances on products for which official alternatives do not yet exist or which carry significantly higher pricing.
Top Rated Comments
There shouldn't be any risk of damage to the device. I'm an electrical engineer and it's quite easy to put in protection against over-current / over-voltage situations into a circuit. Given that the pins are all dynamically assigned in this interface, I am certain that they have all these protections in place in case something were ever to go wrong, even with official accessories.
Also $15 -per device- is hardly chump change, particularly if you want several. I bought the 32GB model so I paid ~$300. That was already so much I almost didn't get an iPhone (been an avid droid fan for years, but getting tired of a laggy UI so I thought I'd give the iPhone a try, and love it btw). At any rate, increasing the cost of the phone by a significant percentage by buying very pricey accessories doesn't make sense to me personally when cheaper options like this are out there.
Now, I am certain that the Apple products will be better built. No doubt. However, for many of these items I don't need it to be built like a tank so having another option is good. Also, competition forces any company to keep prices down as much as possible, so I argue that's a good thing as well.
IMHO, YMMV, etc.
Cheers.
The Lightning side of the two 30 pin adapters have slightly different thicknesses below the white 8 pins
The Lightning side of the microUSB adapter is both crooked in the last photo as well as the leading metal edge above the 8 pins.
Well, those of you brave enough to use them, let the rest of us know how it goes after a month, yeah?