CES saw the first third-party USB-C to Lightning cables break cover from companies like Griffin and Belkin, and now popular purveyor of ion-stimulating apparatus Anker has confirmed it’s getting in on the game. The company claims (via 9to5Mac) that its Powerline cable will have “a bend lifespan of over 5 times higher than any other cable in the market,” while the Powerline+ will gain extra strength through an aluminum shell and braided nylon.
Anker is also releasing a USB-C to female Lightning cable that’s primarily designed as an audio adapter, letting you use Lightning headphones with USB-C devices like the new iPad Pro or recent Apple laptops. The USB-C to Lightning cables will go on sale in March from $20.99 and the audio adapter will follow the next month with pricing TBC.
USB-C to Lightning cables can fast-charge recent iPhones when paired to a USB-C PD-compatible charger like Apple’s new 18W power adapter or Anker’s tiny Atom PD 1, which goes on sale tomorrow. Apple first released its own USB-C to Lightning cable back in early 2016 to enable fast-charging on the iPad Pro. It never sanctioned third-party versions, however, and three years later that original primary use case no longer even applies now that the iPad Pro doesn’t have a Lightning port. On the other hand, these cables can also now be used to charge an iPhone from an iPad Pro, so there’s that.
Comments
Just to confirm, Anker is called Aukey in other markets, right? I have a ton of Aukey gear and it’s pretty much identical
By greg2k on 01.15.19 1:09am
Aukey is a completely different Chinese accessory company. Anker is the original/better Chinese accessory company that kickstarted its business on Amazon, founded by an ex-Google engineer and with better products.
By arcaninsanium on 01.15.19 1:17am
also, to add, check out multiple capacity tests on youtube. Anker one of the few that don’t completely lie about their capacities.
By JesseDegenerate on 01.15.19 10:00am
Anker being honest with USB battery pack capacity is what first put them on the map, no lie. When an entire industry is filled with scammers and thieves, sometimes honesty alone – not pricing, not features, not sales technique, is enough to turn your company into a major success.
By dnyank2 on 01.15.19 10:01am
No, those are separate brands. They do make a lot of competing products, but their designs are distinct.
By kurtthewurt on 01.15.19 1:18am
I’m a little bewildered by the pricing. At $20.99, that means the Anker cables start $1.00 higher than the OEM Apple cables. Perhaps they will be priced at "$20.99" but immediately discounted and sold for $14.99 on Amazon like most other Anker products.
By kurtthewurt on 01.15.19 1:20am
They’ll likely last longer than the frankly sh**** Apple cables, so…
By 2003aaa on 01.15.19 2:08am
nope. the usb a to lightning ones are, but for some reason the usb c to lightening cables apple makes are legit double the thickness. idk why, but I haven’t had one die on me yet.
By JesseDegenerate on 01.15.19 10:00am
I had one ($40 extra length) fray to shit on me in less than 6 months babying the hell out of it
By dnyank2 on 01.15.19 10:04am
the lightning to USB C or A?
By JesseDegenerate on 01.15.19 10:06am
That is interesting. Maybe I’ll check it out.
By 2003aaa on 01.15.19 6:19pm
That only stands true for the 2m version. The 1m one is exactly the same as the regular cable.
By NukedKaltak on 01.15.19 9:03pm
Can I use that dongle with my USB-C laptop charger and fast-charge my iPhone?
By 2003aaa on 01.15.19 2:07am
yes correct..
upto ~18W, after that the iphone can’t pull juice any faster..
By 0ttoman on 01.15.19 3:38am
Oh it’s not 27 watts? I swear it can charge fastest on the 29 watt adapter but can’t seem to find the actual testing. Either will be much faster than the 5 watt charger in the box.
By uid on 01.15.19 5:03am
I ran tests on my XS Max, the best it could do was somewhere around 15-18W. It charged fastest using Anker’s 30W adapter (and not my Macbook Pro’s 87W one). It turned out it was because the 87W adapter supplied 8.9V give or take while Anker’s gave almost 9.2V (same current, ie higher power).
On another test using Anker’s PD powerbank, the phone chose the 15V profile to charge at a reduced current. Still have no idea why it decided to do that.
If the 29W adapter charges faster, it’s likely because of something along these lines where voltage is slightly higher for the same current drawn.
By NukedKaltak on 01.15.19 9:09pm
What does that mean? They didn’t sanction them? They just didn’t work for fast charging the iPad. Have fun charging the iPad pro at 5W/1A.
And you say "the original usecase doesn’t apply anymore" like all the millions of iPad Pros in the wild magically switched to USB-C overnight. Even Apple is still selling iPad Pros with the lightning connector.
By Mrogi on 01.15.19 3:21am
The bigger story is actually that Apple is still using that stupid lightning connector after all these years.
By TheVergeUrge on 01.15.19 4:56am
Lighting is not stupid. It launch more than 6 years ago when android is still using that terrible micro usb. Every apple line up since 2012 use lightning. Tons of accessory is available on the market. Buy any lightning earphones or charger, guaranteed it will work on any iPhone with lightning connector. Apple MFI license and their ecosystem make it seamless.
USB C is still a mess. Try buy usb c headphone, or charger. Too many incompatible standard using the same port.
I agree that USB C is the future but calling lighting stupid is unfair.
By ringodroid on 01.15.19 6:07am
It wasn’t stupid back when, but things change.
By omo on 01.15.19 10:08am
How is it stupid now?
By websnap on 01.15.19 12:04pm
Because the other 94594088509840584098540 gadgets being made daily all use a port (usb-c) which is capable of moving information MUCH faster, and is otherwise becoming universal? Because they killed lightning charging on literally every other apple device?
By GreenApple13 on 01.15.19 12:14pm
What are you talking about? Only Apple devices would have been using Lightning.
Regardless, saying it’s "stupid" is a gross exaggeration. MicroUSB, yeah… lightning, no.
By websnap on 01.15.19 1:16pm
Even microusb wasn’t stupid back in the context of when it was introduced: it had/has significant benefits over mini-usb.
USB-C, though, is something else… I can get why people already on the lightning train would be a bit about it, given the other benefits both usb-c and lightning have over microusb, but I can take one charger with me that’ll do for my laptop, my phone, my headset, my game controller and my switch… or two or three chargers and not worry about which one I’m using for which. It’s amazing.
By ldrn on 01.15.19 5:59pm
I think the idea is amazing but the implementation (especially in contrast to those in Apple’s ecosystem with Lightning) still leaves a lot to be desired. The only real advantage USB-C had over Lightning is data throughput —which is negligible since most iPhone users don’t actually use cables to do any file transfers. USB-C has too many variations too — you get bad, flimsy ports; some fast charge and some don’t; none of them are easily identifiable without packaging… This is why most iPhone users cringe when Android users clamour for USB-C to replace Lightning, we don’t benefit from it —especially if you don’t specifically have a MacBook.
Give me Qi charging over a physical port any day.
By websnap on 01.16.19 12:08pm