Lightning Cable Corrosion?

I have the exact same problem. I bought my iphone 5 and after 28 days it stoped charging, when i looked to the cable, the connectors were black. i cleaned the cable with some dry cloth and it started to charge but unable to connect to the computer. tried in different computers and nothing. went to operator store (TMN - Portugal), they tested it and still nothing, so they send the iphone to warranty with no scratches or signs of bad handling. 1 month later i got the response from them, and they said warranty was void because there was few traces of liquid in the charging connector indicating corrosion (wich is impossible because the phone has never been even close to water or any fluids), they also say that all the interior and exterior LCI were not activated. they want me to pay 220€ to fix it. i refuse to do so, because it´s not my fault the equipment is defective, so they send it back to the store (unrepaird). when i looked to thecnical info describing the problem, the company that made the verification is not even apple certified (http://www.tametgroup.com/empresa.php?area=1&emp=1&id=1). I contacted a portuguese consumer organization who recomended me to make a complaint in an official complaint form and not to recover the equipment. so I did, and now i´m waiting for answer.

Finally took mine to the Apple Store last weekend. The guy claimed that this could only result from liquid damage. I said that was impossible, that I've taken care of my device and cable, etc. So he checked the liquid indicator on my phone, found no evidence of liquid damage, and exchanged the cable for me. Hooray.

I seem to be having the same problem as well. My wife and I have two iPhone5's and an iPad 4G, all which use the lightning connector. For the first time this evening I went to sync her iPhone with our PC and got a 'USB Device Not Recognized' error. After fighting it for an hour, I went and got a different USB-to-lightning connector. It too was not super reliable at first, but after wiggling the cable a bit the iPhone made the 'I'm charging!' sound and became available in iTunes.

On both of these cables I notice two things: 1) plugging in the lightning connector in one particular orientation it doesn't work at all. 2) the middle pins on both sides of the lightning connector have become tarnished (blackish). Not sure if this is the cause but I can't scrape it off.

I do have one additional connector at work that so far seems pretty reliable. Just my $0.02. Congrats on getting a free replacement.

Has anyone found any real resolution to this? I am an Electrical Engineer, so I have experience in microelectronics, but this is ridiculous. My wife's iPad mini has had this issue. I leave the lightning connector attached to a USB outlet I installed in the kitchen and we use vinegar as a cleaning product for the counter, so at first I thought that was causing the corrosion, and I just took it to the Apple store for exchange (I had already cleaned off the cable as much as possible, but one side had gone so far as to lose a pin) hoping they would replace it for the lost pin and miss the corrosion. They gave me a new cable and all was working well. Just today I went to charge my wife's iPad mini again and it had a flickering charge indicator (this really cant be good for the electronics). The same problem has occurred on my new cable. I did notice that there is a blue discoloration (kind of looks like a poorly installed car battery color) on the lightning female portion on the iPad mini itself. This is definitely corrosion, but what is the source? The only thing I can think of would be steam from use in the kitchen near the stove, but water alone and at such infrequent times should not cause this kind of corrosion. I think I might take the iPad mini to my lab microscope to see what's going on in there, but otherwise we are off to the apple store again...

I've just had a look at mine under a magnifying glass, and after trying a few progressively harder objects to remove what appears to be a carbon deposit, I finally shifted the stuff with some bared copper hookup wire.
After doing that, I noticed the remaining metal formed two peaks, roughly 1/3 and 2/3 along the contact area, and both sides were virtually identical.
My educated guess is that the matching contact in the iPhone/iPad (iPad in my case) is not held against the cable contact with enough pressure, and they are effectively arcing, in the same way an arc welder works. If that is the case, the only real option is for the connector in the iDevice to be redesigned to exert just a little more pressure on the cable plug.

The same thing has happened to a lightning-30 pin adapter I bought (from Apple) with the iPad4, although to a lesser extent, as it hasn't seen as much use.

Frustrated much.

I think I am siding with you on this. After talking to my colleagues, I received two plausible suggestions:

1) two gold electrodes placed in an aqueous solution with a positive voltage on one wire and ground applied to the other will corrode the positive gold electrode away

2) electrical arcing causing the corrosion (originally I dismissed this as it is just USB - i.e. 5 V /2 A max)

After examining the male and female sides, it would seem both are likely culprits, but you would have to have some pretty serious condensation on the pins to get this to happen with steam. See the pictures attached (shared images on google drive). You can see in the female side that the number 4 pin is shorter than the others and blackened. In the image of the male cable you can see how the metal is actually gone from the pins, literally holes in the metal. Corrosion due to water damage and such isn't so spot specific and definitely wouldn't leave other portions of the meal untouched. Let me know your thoughts. Enjoy the Apple close-ups.

Female: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-euQuYfdC_QQm9pQnBBbFZNV1E/edit?usp=sharing

Male top: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-euQuYfdC_QUzFidEFJci1oRlU/edit?usp=sharing

Male bottom: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-euQuYfdC_QWU1SMnl4bC1oMHc/edit?usp=sharing

Sorry, forgot to note that the corrosion is happening mainly on the VSUB/V++/Power providing pin, and to add this link. It is an image of pinouts for the lightning connector.

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20121001/242892/?SS=imgview_e&FD=15 38214771&ad_q

I'm having the same issue with a cable I've only used at the office to charge my phone from the computer. Looking at it closely the corrosion seems to be happening on 2 specific pins, which seems to validate the observation someone made about arcing.

I have the same issue with an iphone 5 bought last Nov. One cable does not work at all, a second looks on its way, as does a 30 pin female to 8 pin male adapter I have for my car.

Gonna take the lot of them to a Apple sotre this weekl and see what they say.

I did just get a couple of Amazon Basics cables, and they look sturdier in terms of the cable and its connection to the plugs, so it'll be interesting to see if they wear any better on the pins...

I too am having the same problem. This phone cost me a bundle and the mid 2010 MacBook that keeps rebooting because of a faulty (admittedly by Apple) GPU, which they won't warranty because it's more than 3 years old (how convenient for them) wasn't cheap. A life long PC guy I went to Apple products because when they work, they rock....but the little things that cause your device not to work yet cost big money to fix has caused me to go back to the cheaper to buy; cheaper to fix, PC equipment.

Sorry Apple, you've lost another one!

Yes - same problem here with last November's iPad with Retina Display. I just bought an Amazon Basics cable to replace the cable that failed, and after just two weeks, it's developing the same problem of corrosion on the same pins as the cable it replaced. And it appears to be on the pin brockap3 has identified.

What to do? I preordered the iPad from the online Apple Store to receive it on the day of release. The closest Apple Store to me is 100 miles away. And since the origin of the problem seems to be arcing, it's the iPad itself and not the cable which must be fixed.

There is a one year warrenty - will Apple replace my iPad?

I would just call them up to be sure they can replace it for your problem, but they had no problem replacing my wife's iPad mini, especially when they heard the same thing happening to multiple cables. I think they have something in their system that refers to this problem as they didn't even really ask me any further questions about it. The one year warranty should be plenty good to replace the cable and iPad. The problem you might have with calling is that that phone support ends after 90 days.

Well, I started with chat support and ended up on the phone with a supervisor who says that the engineers might want to take a look at the unit and the cables. He called it a "unique problem," which is probably not exactly right, since we've had the same problems. I'll definitely be getting a replacement, but in the meantime, I'm to send photos to Apple for the engineers to check out and decide if they want to examine it. If I can help them improve the product, I'm all for it.

Brockap3, I'll point them to this discussion and your photos, if that's ok with you?

Of course it's all right to also use my pictures, at minimum of the cable, but you should try and get photos of your own if at all possible. You can even have them call me directly if you like ;-) They do have special microscopes and things to see what is going on, so they are likely just being careful, but that is a little irritating over a long drive if it doesn't end up working out.

I finally got to an Apple store last week. They replaced my two Lighting cables, no questions asked.

They also replaced the battery in my 11 month old iphone 5 aftyer getting part way through a diagnositic test on it.

I now get at least double the battery life, so I am a happy camper.

Two funny things though: the "Genius Bar" let me make an appointment for 10:50am on a Sunday Morning, I later realized the store didnt oipen 'til noon...

I was in an area I don't know well, so I used Siri to get directions to the store in a mall near Durham, NC.

When I was within sight of the exit, but still on I40, she told me I had arrived, and should park the car and walk to the destination! It would have meant parking on an interstate and walking a half mile or more. Its bad enough to get an address that wrong, but an Apple store?