Apple Cautions Users In China Against Charging iPhone 15 With Android Cables

Photo 249245783 © Yalcinsonat | Dreamstime.com

While Apple’s smartphones have looked pretty similar since the iPhone X, the latest lineup brings a rather significant hardware change. The tech giant has swapped out the exclusive Lightning port for USB-C, meaning you can use the same cable across the iPhone 15, iPad, MacBook, updated AirPods 2… and even Android products.

Or so it’s believed. Although the company has adapted to the universal interface, it also apparently frowns upon using non-Apple cables to charge its devices. New reports emerging from China state that a number of Apple Stores in the country are discouraging customers from juicing up their iPhone 15 models with Android cables, citing an overheating risk.

One particular branch in Foshan, Guangdong Province, has issued an online statement urging users not to use Android’s Type-C connectors with Apple products. The post sheds a little more light as to why those aren’t recommended. According to the store, there’s a tiny gap between the single-row nine-pin and single-row 11-pin configurations, and this difference could cause devices to “burn up.”

Customers have questioned whether the warning is a ploy to sell more USB-C adaptors at a premium price. It should also be noted that Apple yielded to the European Union’s demands to make iPhones more universally usable by adopting the Type-C standard. If Android cables are a no-go, then we’re back to square one.

DesignTAXI has reached out to Apple for comment.

[via Gizmochina and TechNave, cover photo 249245783 © Yalcinsonat | Dreamstime.com]