Lightning connector broken off inside iPad?

I see that this is a relatively old post, but I was in the Apple store the other day and I went to look at the 5th gen iPod (I understand that it is a different product, but it uses the same connector) and I went to go pick it up, and the connector was already broken. Considering this was at an apple store, I would assume that it was a genuine cable.

I have the same problem went to unplug my lightning charger from my iPad 4 and it snapped in my hand. I did not use excessive force I pulled it out the way I always have this has to be a common fault and should be properly addressed by Apple as they want to charge me £250.00 pounds for fixing it

Just read most of this thread as I tried to charge my son's I-pad mini put the plug would not go in the socket and there appeared to be something blocking it.

Good news! tried the 'tiny screwdriver down the side' trick and something popped out the hole. The second surprise was that it was not the end of a broken connector but a grain of rice!

It all makes sense now, we found the ipad outside on the grass a couple of days ago, where he had left it for 2-3 days, in torrential rainshowers we have been having. Our clever au-pair kept it turned off but imersed it in a bowl of rice to soak up the moisture. next morning it worked a treat but had obviously got rice in its socket hole. Surely an ipad mini with 9 lives!

I only hope that someone else has rice rather than a broken connector!

RH

I hope nothing else happens, unless you purchased AppleCare+, because every internal liquid contact indicator has likely now been activated and the iPad mini no longer has an Apple warranty.

I have had my Ipad 4 for only 2 months. The original lighning cable tip broke off inside, absolutely no abuse or force used what so ever. I think it is time for Apple to admit to a poor product!!

I can show you my new Ipad with no abuse or a scratch!! tip of the original lighning cable broken off inside!

Just took my Ipad to the Apple store. Aparently in some cases (and mine being one of them) Apple replaces the Ipad. I would therfore suggest, if you are sure you did not abuse or seriously force anything, prior to poking around and possibly creating permanent damage, check with the Apples store first.

I'm a 48 year old professional photographer and I've worked with countless pieces of delicate devices, electronic or otherwise. Yesterday I went to unplug my 2 month old Ipad mini and the plug snapped off in the charging port.

I don't want to hear that I've done something wrong, that I've twisted it or stored it at the incorrect altitude or temperature. It broke. The piece of equipment is flawed, either in design or construction or both, and it's too bad that Apple won't recognize the defect and make it right. I'm going to pack this thing up and take it to the Apple Store with gritted teeth because I don't know what else to do, but I'm not expecting much.

Extremely disappointing.

Good luck Timoty, I did get my Ipad and my lighning wire replaced by the Apple store, so there is hope!

Same thing just happened to me here with my 4th gen ipad. not only was there no abuse, but i work in a music studio - like Timothy, i'm very familiar with delicate equipment. Not just that but i take excellent care of all the cables in the studio. You're not allowed to touch cables here unless you know how to treat them nicely - none of them.

You do not drop a $7000 condenser mic and expect it to work.

<Edited by Host>

Had the same problem with the tip breaking off inside my Little Brothers iPad (unit was about six months old). Made an appointment with the Genius Bar and after returning from the back room they said they were unable to repair but would credit to new one with net cost of about $ 300.

Googled the problem and went to the You Tube vid of the guy with the Super Glue. Out steps to success were:

1. We put a drop of the glue (WalMart Automotie purchase Permtec @ $.97/4 pak) on a piece of paper and lighly dipped the free broken end of the plug that was outside of the iPad in the glue.

2. Waited 10 seconds then inserted this broken end with the glue into the charging port and onto the embedded other broken end.

3 Held in place for 60 seconds.

4. The broken end of plastic pulled right out; surprisingly easy

5. However, what didn't come out was the very small metal outside frame that surrounds this end.

6. Used a sewing needle to remove this frame and it came out rather easily.

Total repair

Just read through this post again, after I lost my 13 month old iPad Mini to the lightning connector breakeing off inside completely randomly. Dah-Veed, please post on something you actually have something to offer real experience. Or rather, go try to break you lightning cable until you actually do. Clearly there is a user population whose iPad devices have been rendered useless by day to day usage, and your input here is completely useless and borderline stockholm syndrome.

You've seen the fix, fix it. Otherwise move along, as I am just as entitled to disagree with you as you are with me. I now have five different Apple USB to Lightning cables and not one of them shows any wear and tear and they are all in constant use.

Post some close up photos of the broken off connector and the port on the iPad mini.

Just wanted to share my experience.

Mar. 1st - Purchased IPad Mini Retina Celluar

Mar. 7th - Arrived at my house

Mar. 19th - Tip of the lightning cable connector broke off, and was wedged in the Ipad

Mar. 20th - Apple agreed to replace it for $40 because it was covered in Applecare Plus

Lightning cable I was using was the one that came with the Ipad.

I was told that had I not been enrolled in Applecare Plus, getting it replaced would have cost me $300.

I own many gagets, and I will say that I was very gentle when I inserted the cable into the Ipad. It did, however slide in at an odd angle. When I let go, I could see that the cable was attached at a weird angle. When I pulled on the cable to get it out and see what the problem was, the end terminal snapped off and was left in the Ipad.

It looked exactly like pictures posted.

I asked the Apple rep if this type of problem occured frequently, and her initial answer was "not with Apple brand lightning cable". When I asked, she told me that this was a frequent problem with people using non Apple brand cables.

I think it's terrible that there is no easy way around this problem, not only because it seems like it could be countermeasured rather easily with some simple design changes, but it renders a perfectly good IPad useless, and it's also a very big stress on the owner. I stayed up all night last night researching this problem.

Takeaway here:

1) It's a known problem with no easy fix. You're on your own, people have had success getting out the broken bit but it involves superglue

2) For prevention, use Apple Brand lightning cable

3) When you first buy IPad, make sure you are enrolled in APPLE CARE PLUS. It's worth it.

I want to thank the participants in this forum, thanks to comments and photos I managed to figure out how to fix an iPad from a customer with a little piece of the lightning connector ORIGINAL broken inside.

It is better not to use glue but to use a very thin tip to bend inside the two sides of the piece of metal and then I pull with tweezers professional.