Quote:
Originally Posted by sclitheroe
in short, there's a CPU in there that dynamically re-configures the signal and power routing on the cable based on insertion orientation and mode (data, AV, etc)
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Putting a "chip" into a cable to detect orientation is absolutely insane design choice. Cables generally suffer a lot of wear and tear from constantly connecting/disconnecting, getting crammed into a pocket/bag. You're just asking for high error rate and customer dissatisfaction - the first gen cables were rife with problems where the chip would fail forcing you to plug in one way or in some extreme cases, frying your phone.
Remember the good ol' days when you had to use an Ethernet crossover cable if you're connecting computer to computer and a straight through cable when connecting to a switch and how much of a pain in the @ss it was to determine which cable was which? Well, the computer industry solved it the right way by having the device auto detecting and switching the send/receive and power for PoE appropriately so it doesn't matter any more.
Since we are already paying upwards of 1K for the device, keep the cables dumb so they both suffer lower error rate and are cheaper to replace. I've actually never owned a knock-off cable and as annoyed I was about them switching the cable, I ordered 2 extra cables when I ordered my iPhone 5 as I always keep one at home, one in the office and one in the car. It was extremely annoying that 2 of my cables failed within 3 months and I had to get them swapped at the Apple store.
This was a design choice by Apple in order to corner their own accessory market, plain and simple, and has nothing to do with doing something "better". Good business decision, not very consumer friendly, IMO.