iPhone battery case maker Mophie has shared with the New York Times some of the actions Apple takes to ensure that it locks down its Lightning connector.
In order to only allow authorized connectors to connect to new iPhone and iPad models, Apple includes a serialized authentication chip in the connectors it sells to companies in its “Made For iPhone/iPod/iPad” or MFi program. If a company sells those Lightning connectors to another company, Apple can determine that it came from a particular MFi member.
“If you took this apart and put it in another product and Apple got a hold of it, they’d be able to see it’s from Mophie’s batch of Lightning connectors,” said Ross Howe, vice president of marketing for Mophie.
Mr. Howe said that while the chip in the Lightning connector can be reverse-engineered, it probably wouldn’t work as well as an original. And also there’s a possibility that Apple could issue software updates that would disable Lightning products that didn’t use official Apple chips.
Apple wants to ensure that users have the best experience possible when purchasing accessories, and tries to do so by only allowing approved 3rd-party accessories to be used with Apple products. The strategy does have a side-effect of higher prices, as Apple requires manufacturers to pay licensing fees to be part of the MFi program. However, there are companies, such as Amazon, that have introduced Lightning connector accessories that are lower in price.
