Skip to footer

Apple wants your old USB cords

After safety concerns arise in China, Apple now offers a special rate on USB power cords as part of its Adapter Takeback program.

|
Kim Kyung-Hoon/ Reuters/ File
A man talks on an iPhone in Beijing. Apple has a limited-time USB trade-in program, which promises to dispose of old USB cords in an environmentally friendly way.

Apple is offering $10 USB power adapters to customers from August 16 until October 18, according to a company press release. To qualify for the exchange, customers must bring in their old USB power adapters, along with their iPhone, iPad, or iPod for serial-number validation. There is a limit of one new USB cord per device.  

“Recent reports have suggested that some counterfeit and third party adapters may not be designed properly and could result in safety issues,” reads Apple’s press release. The company instituted the Takeback Program to make sure customers are connected with safe cords.

As part of the Takeback Program, Apple is also encouraging users to drop off any of their old USB power adapters at Apple Stores, or an authorized Apple dealer. The company promises to dispose of the discarded chargers in an “environmentally-friendly way.”

The press release comes several weeks after a Chinese stewardess, Ma Ailun, was reportedly electrocuted making a call on her iPhone. Ms. Ma is believed to have been using a third-party – or counterfeit – charger at the time of her death.

Apple did not comment on the details of the case. The company issued a statement expressing sadness about this “tragic incident” and promised to “investigate and cooperate with authorities” in investigations, according to an article from Reuters.

Another report surfaced from China about a man receiving severe electric shock while plugging in an iPhone 4 with a third-party charger.

In 2008, Apple advised iPhone 3G users to replace the device's power adapter after the company received reports of the metal prongs breaking off the adapter and remaining lodged in power outlets, creating risk of electric shock, according to MacRumor. 

Apple’s website has a section, with pictures, to help customers identify counterfeit USB adapters.

An Apple USB power adapter for the iPhone 5 usually costs $19 in the Apple Store, whereas the counterfeit adapter can be purchased online for $3 or less. 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Apple wants your old USB cords
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/Responsible-Tech/2013/0807/Apple-wants-your-old-USB-cords
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe