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How to spot the difference between a genuine and fake lightning cable ? And also will charging my phone with a fake cable for a day damage it’s battery life ?

How do I spot a genuine and fake lightning cable? There are 3 lightning cables and I know for sure 1 of them is a fake ( it wasn't bought from the apple store) I've tried to find some sort of mismatch but all of them seem to look the same. The only ever difference I found was for 1 cable where the serial number, "Designed by Apple in California Assembled in China" followed by XXXXXXXXXXXX, 12 digit numbers. The beginning of the serial starts with F0 which was weird since the other 3 started with FC. Any help would be greatly appreciated


Another thing i would also like to know, will charging your phone with the fake one for a day damage your phones battery? (heard if you charged your phone with a fake cable it will damage your phone)

Posted on Jan 24, 2020 1:23 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 24, 2020 1:50 AM

Here's an article from Apple about that subject:

Identify counterfeit or uncertified Lightning connector accessories - Apple Support


Apple Support might no more details about that, in case you can tell them, where you bought the USB cable in question.

9 replies

Jan 24, 2020 8:10 AM in response to Ingo2711

the thing is, I have no clue about the origin of this cable ( it wasn’t mine, a family member’s of mine. The cables somehow got jumbled up ) I’m sorry if this isn’t enough info. Do you reckon that showing them the cables would help ?


Also so wanted to ask would using this fake cable for a day possibly damage my phone if the adapter is a standard 5W apple adapter ? (Read that somehow using fake cables could severely damage the phone, possibly damaging its battery life) sorry if I sound paranoid

Jan 25, 2020 7:23 AM in response to Ingo2711

hmm thats odd, perhaps I have an outdated lightning cable. I couldn’t find it at first since it’s almost camouflaged onto the cable, but according to apple’s site there is a serial number. Either ways I couldn’t really sense any sort of difference between all of them, I’ve only just eliminated the odd one out of the 3, that is the font size and the digits. I’ll definitely try to visit a nearby apple premium reseller ( there isn’t any apple stores near me at all )


thanks a bunch for helping !

How to spot the difference between a genuine and fake lightning cable ? And also will charging my phone with a fake cable for a day damage it’s battery life ?

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