Oct 19, 2023 12:30:00

Scan various USB-C connectors and verify the differences, what is the difference between Apple's genuine cable over 10,000 yen and cheap cable?

Within the 'USB-C cable' category, there are a variety of products ranging from expensive products that cost over 10,000 yen, such as

Apple's Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) Pro cable, to inexpensive products that can be purchased for only a few hundred yen. exists. Lumafield, a company that handles industrial CT scanners, has published analysis results on how the contents differ depending on the price range.

USB-C head-to-head teardown
https://www.lumafield.com/article/usb-c-cable-charger-head-to-head-comparison-apple-thunderbolt-amazon-basics

◆Apple Thunderbolt 4(USB-C)Pro
Apple's Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) Pro cable supports Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, and USB 4 data transfer, and can transfer data at up to 40 Gbps, as well as DisplayPort output and up to 100 W power supply. It is a high-performance cable that is possible. The scan result looks like this, and you can view the 3D model data by accessingthe Lumafield site .

The connector is encased in hard plastic with a stainless steel metal shield underneath. Additionally, an integrated

strain relief crimped from 8 directions protects the cord and connector connections.

Each of the 24 pins of the Thunderbolt connector is independently connected to a 10-layer printed circuit board assembly (PCBA). If you look through the PCB board using Lumafield's visualization tool Voyager, you can see that there are many

blind vias and buried vias inside.

If you look closely at a printed circuit board, you will notice that some of the traces, which are conductive paths on the board, are wavy. In ultra-high-speed data transmission, it is important to match the length of a pair of traces, so the route is made to be wavy to intentionally take a detour.

Thunderbolt cables contain three different types of wires. The shielded conductors in the cable are high-speed data wires, two of the unshielded conductors are traditional USB 2.0 data wires, and the remaining wires are for power transmission.

◆AmazonBasics USB Type C Cable
AmazonBasics' USB-C cable provides up to 60W charging and up to 480Mbps data transfer for less than one-tenth the price of Apple's cable. Similar to Thunderbolt connectors, it has a metal plate inside the plastic box as a shield and is integrated with a strain relief. However, AmazonBasics' strain relief is much simpler than the Thunderbolt connector, with two arms crimped together to secure the shield to the cable.

The connector has only 12 pins, half as many as Thunderbolt. In addition, in the four locations where the pins are paired, each pin is connected to the PCBA in pairs, suggesting that costs are reduced while ensuring the basic functions of charging and low-speed data transfer. Masu.

◆NiceTQ USB-C cable
The $5.59 (about 840 yen) NiceTQ USB-C cable advertises that it supports data transfer up to 10Gbps despite being in a similar price range to AmazonBasics.

However, when I scanned the contents, as shown in the image below, there is no metal shield, the shell is not grounded, and the strain relief is just rubber with no metal reinforcement. Although there are 8 pins at the tip of the connector, only 4 of them are connected to the cable, and there is no PCBA, so the pins and wires are directly connected.

The cable consists of four straight stranded conductors, each individually embedded in two layers of insulation. There are only enough pins and wires to support USB 2.0 at a maximum of 480Mbps, and it seems unlikely that it will be able to achieve a transfer speed of 10Gbps.

The NiceTQ USB-C cable has received 29 one-star reviews and was discontinued the day after Lumafield purchased this cable.

◆ATYFUER USB-C cable
The ATYFUER USB-C cable, priced at $3.89 (approximately 580 yen), is sold only for charging, but when Lumafield scanned it, as shown in the image below, both pins and wires are configured to allow USB 2.0 data transfer. It turns out.

There are 24 pins at the tip, 12 of which are connected to the cable. Lumafield speculates that the reason for this configuration is that it may be cheaper to maintain one design, even though the manufacturing facility is the same as the Thunderbolt cable, which means some wasted material and labor. I did.

As mentioned above, there are various differences among the same 'USB-C cables', so it is best to purchase a cable that suits you based on the purpose such as data transfer and charging, the shape of the cable, and its lifespan. that's right.