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A Look Inside Apple's $130 USB-C Cable

Adam Savage’s Tested · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Repair, teardowns & right to repairConsumer devices & gadgetsElectronics & circuit design

What it is

Adam Savage and engineer Zach Radding examine Lumafield CT scans of Apple's $130 Thunderbolt 4 cable alongside cheaper USB-C cables. They explain the internal components that distinguish Thunderbolt from ordinary USB-C.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Linked whenever people ask why a Thunderbolt cable costs so much; the CT scans show the construction difference clearly.

  • 6 people recommended it
  • 5 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2023, last 2026

What HN commenters said

  1. “if you're interested in why the Thunderbolt cable costs more than charging cables, some folks put one through a CT scanner recently”

    CT scan shows why Thunderbolt cables cost more

    wlesieutre, 2023-11 · Recommendation · in “In Defense of RAM”

  2. “Apple’s $130 3’ Thunderbolt cable (the pinnacle of cables) actually is not overpriced”

    Shows why the $130 cable is not overpriced

    gjsman-1000, 2023-11 · Recommendation · in “Is there an updated list for verified good USB-C cables?”

  3. “this video shows scans of what is inside Apple’s cable vs cheap cables off Amazon.”

    Scans of Apple cable internals versus cheap Amazon cables

    al_borland, 2024-02 · Recommendation · in “Vision Pro Teardown – Why those fake eyes look so weird”

  4. “The cable is simply factually better on every metric than the hand-soldered 4 wire el cheapo one”

    Shows the cable is better on every metric than cheap ones

    lloeki, 2024-12 · Recommendation · in “EU law mandating universal chargers for devices comes into force”

  5. “did a video on why Apple Thunderbolt-4 is so expensive ($130), by looking at the detail in construction vs cheap alternatives.”

    Explains why Thunderbolt cable is expensive by comparing construction

    tiffanyh, 2025-01 · Recommendation · in “Thunderbolt 5 vs. Thunderbolt 4: Everything you need to know”

  6. “It's a good watch, and I learned some new stuff”

    Lumafield CT scans of different 18650 battery cells

    ssl-3, 2026-01 · Recommendation · in “We X-Rayed a Suspicious FTDI USB Cable”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: thunderbolt 4, usb-c, ct scan, cable engineering, lumafield

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