What is Apple MFi and Does it Even Matter?
Concisely put, MFi stands for “Made for iPhone/iPod/iPad” and is a certified licensing program by Apple for manufacturers/developers of hardware and software. For hardware, it basically means that the main component of that accessory is directly purchased from Apple. For example, 3rd party MFi Apple watch chargers, the circular pad you lay down the Apple Watch is purchased directly from Apple and for MFi Certified USB cables, then the lightning tip would have been purchased from Apple. The integral parts are sold directly by Apple to the manufacturer or Company that is producing an MFi Certified Apple accessory.
Does MFi Really Matter?
Yes, and No. If you’ve just purchased the most up-to-date iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, then I would say go with the MFi Certified accessory as this would less compromise the life of the battery and in rare instances can cause power surges in your phone which would cause your phone to be un-chargeable. Let me also state that there are thousands of non-MFi accessories floating around the world and each of those accessories have a different quality to them. We’ve seen and tested many, for example, Lightning cables. There are really high-quality non-MFi cables, but we’ve also tested low-grade cables in which you get an error message stating that the accessory is a non-Genuine Apple product and will not let you charge. We’ve also experienced one side of the Lightning cable going defective and eventually both sides going out. In addition, we’ve also experienced quicker battery degradation in some of our devices. However, in the hundreds of the non-MFi Apple cables we’ve tested, one main aspect is prevalent between MFi and non-MFi cables and that is when you’re connecting your device to iTunes. Regardless of the quality of high to low non-MFi cables, we experience about 75% of non-MFi cables not being able to update or modify your Apple device thru iTunes and sometimes, the non-MFi cable is not recognized by iTunes.
With all that said, perhaps you could consider going with a non-MFi accessory if you have an older Apple product. After testing hundreds of iPhones with generic cables, we have not seen too many issues with these accessories. If you’re on vacation and you just happen to forget your original Apple accessory, using non-MFi cables purchased from a gas station is not going to hurt your Apple product too much. In addition, with new software updates by Apple and new releases of iPhones, we wouldn’t be too surprised if the software can better detect non-MFi accessories leaving your generic accessory useless. Something to also consider obviously is the price. A generic non-MFi cable costs roughly $7-$12 while an MFi certified cable runs you about $15-$25. We think you should spend an extra $10 for that peace of mind.