The Ugreen cable box, Numerous cheap Lighting-USB-C cables are finally arriving on the market, competing with the very expensive one (25 euros on Amazon), which Apple still offers on the market today. Cheap cables but not for this reason of poor quality, like those of Ugreen that we have had the opportunity to test these days.
The Chinese company is among the few that manages to offer accessories for the Apple world with a fair relationship between price and quality and this is also the case for these cables that Apple has only recently authorized by proposing them in the MFI program, Made for iPhone.
At the moment there are two Ugreen cables on the market capable of recharging (provided you have a suitable charger) at high speed the latest iPhones and iPads are two. The first, released a few weeks ago and which we have already talked about, is made entirely of plastic, including the connector covers. The second has the classic nylon mesh cable cover which reduces the chances of tangling. According to what Ugreen explains, there are no differences in terms of resistance to connection-disconnection or to bending between the two cables. In fact, up to 15 thousand cycles have been tested.
The Ugreen cable box
From the constructive point of view, the two cables are distinguished not only by the fact that one has a nylon mesh cover while the second is only in plastic, for the connectors. The one in nylon mesh has pins made of satin aluminum, the second (the white one in our photos) in plastic. Apart from the materials, we did not notice any substantial difference in the design of the connectors and not even in the cable section.
In comparison, the Apple cable, while well built, seems to be missing in some aspects. In particular, the connectors are less abundant in the junction section with the cable. It should be noted that Ugreen's cables, despite an aspect that suggests greater solidity, do not have connectors larger than those of Apple.
This is a novelty for those who remember how the first MFI Lighting-USB 2 cables were, marked by a plug much larger than Apple's. Also unusual is the fact that Ugreen's cables are longer even if only by a few centimeters: 104 cm against 100 cm) compared to that of Apple. In the past we have been used to having MFI cables shorter than the original Apple ones.
Construction details aside, the strength of these cables is the use of a proprietary chip, licensed by Apple. Thanks to this component there is no risk that the cables cease to work when the operating system is updated, which could happen if the cable were not certified.
Since these cables can be connected, thanks to the USB-C connector, there is also another risk: that of “electrocuting” the iPhone. In fact, remember that a USB-C power supply can also reach up to 100W of power while the iPhone is able to receive up to 18W. The smartphone is able to “talk” to the power supply and regulate the energy it receives, but a poorly constructed cable could confuse the system.
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The Ugreen cable connector compared with that of the original Apple cable 
The Lighting connector of the Ugreen cable compared with that of the original Apple cable 
The nylon mesh
During our test we measured the transmission capacity of Ugreen's Lighting-USB-C cable, verifying its perfect match to the specifications and the charging capacity of the iPhone XS Max. The transmitted power fluctuated on a battery with a charge of less than 20% between 17.5W and 19.2W. The Apple cable achieved the same performance.
No problem even in synchronization. Ugreen's Lighting-USB-C cable works perfectly with our MacBook 12 ″ Retina.
In conclusion, Ugreen cables represent a very valid alternative both to Apple cables in comparison with which they are much cheaper without losing anything in quality, and to cables of other competitors that cost, albeit slightly, more. In this perspective, they are absolutely recommended to all those who need, because they have computers only with USB-C ports, to put aside the USB 2 cable that Apple puts in the iPhone packaging, both for those who want a cable that can quickly recharge a iPhone using a Power Delivery adapter. This is possible from the iPhone 8 upwards, or with one of the latest iPad Pro with Lightning port (including the latest iPad mini 5 and iPad Air).
