“Do Android charger cords generally lose their effectiveness over time?”

(Answer requested by Nima Jooyandeh)

Android, Apple, it doesn’t matter: Yes, any charger cord can wear out and lose effectiveness over time.

Charger cords are technically cables — an assemblage of seperate wires wound together into a bundle;4 and coated with a plastic insulator. (The separate wires in USB charger are often literally only about as thick as a human hair!) A typical USB charger cord will have two, three, or more these wire bundles inside, all overwrapped with another insulator.

Repeated flexing, especially near the ends of the cable, can break some or all of the very thin wires inside. If some of the wires are broken, the remaining wires may be insufficient to carry the charger’s normal output, leading to slower than normal charging.

If all of the wires are broken, the cable may not work at all, or only work if you hold the cable in a specific orientation so that the broken wires temporarily make contact again. (Not recommended!)

A cord’s plugs and sockets also can wear over time, resulting in a loose fit, worn-away conductive surfaces, and poor or erratic connections.

Generally, cheap cables wear out pretty fast. They’re cheap for a reason — they’ll use extremely thin wires with little or no effective strain relief to help prevent early flexure failures at the plug and socket connections.

Better cables cost a bit more, but have beefier construction throughout, and tend to last much longer.

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