It's wrong to blame users. To please Greenpeace, Apple removed PVC from their cables (maybe only in some markets?). Such cables deteriorated on their own. First they swelled up and turned gray near the MagSafe connector, then turned yellow, and finally became brittle and fell apart in sticky dark green bits.
I have never seen any cable, even under great stress, fall apart like that. It was an obvious chemical change, not physical stress.
I suspect deterioration was either due to heat transmitted from the chassis over the MagSafe connector, or from finger oils, as people touch the cable most near the connector.
>I have never seen any cable, even under great stress, fall apart like that. It was an obvious chemical change, not physical stress.
I dug out some old cables from the end of the featurephone era and noticed that the USB data cables had chemical disintegration, like the plasticizer up and left the synthetic rubber or whatever it's made out of. This left the outside crumbling off. I really do wonder what they were made out of and why it does this. Similarly the rubberized coatings so popular on mp3 players of the late 90's, early 2000's do this as well.
To contrast I have 30+ year old NEMA connector cables (kind for server/desktop PSU's) with zero signs of wear, maybe they got a little stiffer over the years but no cracking. I have also used extension cords this old and again, none of this chemical degradation. I think lead stabilizers were used in outdoor cables and this is why they hold up better, and also carry lead warnings sometimes on the cables?
> I dug out some old cables from the end of the featurephone era and noticed that the USB data cables had chemical disintegration, like the plasticizer up and left the synthetic rubber or whatever it's made out of. This left the outside crumbling off. I really do wonder what they were made out of and why it does this. Similarly the rubberized coatings so popular on mp3 players of the late 90's, early 2000's do this as well.
I looked this up a few weeks ago!
It's because the rubber-like coating (TPE, or thermoplastic elastomer) interacts with body oils, causing it to eventually degrade:
I wouldn't be surprised if that oils and bacteria, and if that's dependent on particular user's hand microbiota. Apple should and could test it on users who report fraying, IMHO.
Mine mbpro USB-C charger cable is just turned to yellow after a year of use. I'm going to add some shrinkwrap before it turns to goo, hopefully it'll work this time.
I'm not sure this is accurate; on both classic magsafe adapters (mid 2012) and 2019 adapters, I've not had an adapter fray, and both my 2012 and 2019 MacBook Airs are getting daily all-day use (and because I and my friend are clumsy, weekly coffee baths). A quick search for Apple magsafe pvc removal suggests (from Greenpeace's own site) that the change you are commenting on was done in 2009.
The original cables for both survived just fine for their entire life time, and the 2012 machine travelled all across the globe, and the 2019 even more so in a shorter amount of time, again, with very active and heavy use.
I don't think this is a widespread issue, and sounds isolated.
> A quick search for Apple magsafe pvc removal suggests (from Greenpeace's own site) that the change you are commenting on was done in 2009.
Anecdotally, the MagSafe charger that came with my 2008 MacBook is still going strong, but the one that I got with a 2013 MacBook Air is a hot blue mess that I occasionally bring to Apple Stores to try and get replaced.
That is the Apple Way. Apple is never at fault, they have prefect engineering.. They have Genius "Technicians".. and so it is impossible for them to make a mistake..
Remember it was not Apple Engineering that was a problem years ago, it was because people simply did not know how to hold their phone correctly, Stupid users thinking they could just hold their device however they felt like, no when you buy an Apple Product you do it the Apple Way...
I have never seen any cable, even under great stress, fall apart like that. It was an obvious chemical change, not physical stress.
I suspect deterioration was either due to heat transmitted from the chassis over the MagSafe connector, or from finger oils, as people touch the cable most near the connector.