I did realise it was a joke, but i figured there was probably someone else who may have missed out on their adapters.
Cool cool, just making sure. Also, it’s not your fault if someone misses out. Apple should be better prepared.
Plenty of adapters at MyMac Flinders St (Melbourne CBD), I went there yesterday and today to swap out mine… They have ordered another 500-1000 or something according to the guy there. Should be plenty for everyone 
Apparently brisbane flagship store ran out today. According to my building’s security guard!
Sydney still has them. I swapped 7 over this afternoon…
I took 9 in today, (Penrith NSW) in and out in about 2 minutes, no questions asked, no serial numbers.
The concierge indicated to go to an area in store, where there was a girl looking after another customer, no worries.
Then he says, follow me, i’ll take care of it, done, awesome service.
Just came home from the Doncaster store, they had trays and trays of them. Guy swapping them over said he’d exchanged heaps of them today.
Only question he asked was “How many do you have sir?”
Ever so easy.
Swapped my wife’s MacBook pro duckhead adaptor today at the Adelaide CBD store. There was a bit of a line when I got there but I was still in and out in less than 3 minutes as it was an Apple guy standing by a desk just doing straigh swaps as people handed the old ones over.
And as an added bonus, the jerky motion that she noticed when running the MacBook Pro off the old adaptor has disappeared. Apple have definietly done something with these adaptor heads.
My replacement plug arrived in the mail on Friday (took just on a week). You send the old one back in the same bag.
My better half swapped 7 of ours and 9 of our friends ones when she was down at Highpoint Apple store, they had several trays available.
I swapped about 10 last week. No issues at all - just walked in, they swapped no paperwork and walked out.
I just wish that they’d sort out this issue too…
Why is it that my $6 3rd party (licensed) Lightning cables can last years, as does every other phone charger or USB cable I’ve ever owned, but Apple’s cables keep dying like this? So annoying!!
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What do you do to your Lightning Cables?
I have never had this happen to any of my Apple cables (lightning or 30 pin cables) over the past 10 years.
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I use them.
The same way as I use every other cable.
(And yes, I unplug them by the plug. They are just crap cables. Don’t even get me started on the design of the Thunderbolt monitor cables and a 13-inch MacBook Air…)
In my experience if they’re exposed to UV from sunlight then the plastic surrounding the cable degrades, if they’re used primarily under artificial lights then this is much less common.
I use my cables as well, and I use them a lot. I have around 16 devices which I have to constantly charge around the house.
I throw the cables in my briefcase, backpack, pocket etc. I have cables which live in my car exposed to UV light but none have never degraded to the level shown in your photos.
My Apple In Ear Headphones do experience a lot of wear and tear to the point where I need to replace them, but even they have not gone to the point where the wires under the protective coating have been exposed.
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Ah, that would explain it. I had the same problem on two of my apple cables, which both live in the car.
this happens to some of mine - think it depends on the usage. i have one in my car plugged into the usb port and this happens within about 6mths. have one on my desk at work that still looks like new condition which is 3 years old
Swapped 4 duck heads over at Mymac on Flinders Street this afternoon. Was in and out in around 1 minute- not exaggerating.
The one in my car looks the same yet every other cable is perfect, might be onto something about the sunlight on them. (And mine lives in a dock connector so doesn’t move very much either!).
That happened to one of mine, lived on my desk for about 18months and went yellow then did exactly as shown, wasn’t in the sun. Maybe there was a dodgy batch, I would have got it with my iPhone 5 or my iPad Mini 3 years or so ago.