“As users unbox their new Apple Watch units today, customers who bought the Sport version are receiving a bit of a surprise,” Benjamin Mayo reports for 9to5Mac. “The inductive charging cable bundled with Apple Watch Sport is actually made of plastic rather than the nice metal finishes of the more expensive stainless steel and gold watches.”
“The material is very similar to other Apple accessories which have white gloss exteriors,” Mayo reports. “It’s unclear why the Sport does not get the fancier cable: it may be simply for cost-saving purposes to maximize Apple’s bottom line or it may be a design choice to better match the materials of the Watch itself.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Oh, the humanity.
Well you get what you pay for.
In contrast to the down votes, I agree with you. The Sport provides the same functionality and battey life in a durable 7000 series aluminum shell as the much more expensive SS and gold models. So the inductive charger has a plastic shell…it works the same. As far as I am concerned, the Apple Watch is a miracle of design and miniaturization and the Sport model is a bargain at under $400.
There’s less risk of scratching your watch with a plastic charger anyway, it should be a benefit to the sport’s durability to be roughed on.
Magnets need steel to attach to. An aluminum case will not stick magnetically to a magnet. Therefore, you get something else. Excuse the rambling. its 1:30 am and I need to go to bed. LOL
If it would have been $359, instead of $349 it would have been metal, but poor Apple would have gone broke over that $10 difference. Of course, now they have to handle 2 different charger models throughout the supply chain, but, hey, they are the worlds richest company.
It is done as a way to further differentiate the models, since the functions of the Watch are identical across the models. Relax people, it’s just a charging cable.
My wife just got hers. First of all the watch is WAY better in real life. Feels and looks more expensive than we paid for. The Aluminium is very soft feeling yet at the same time it feels like durable. Not sure I am doing justice in describing its feel, you got to feel it yourself I guess.
The plastic charger is not disappointing at all. It actually quite sturdy and feels high end.
Wife very happy, me still waiting for mine.
Happy wife, happy…
Oh, never mind.
… waiting. There. Finished it for ya.
😉
You can buy a nice metal one for $30 (1-meter cord) or $40 (2-meter cord). A guy in my office ordered an extra one to carry with him and it arrived yesterday. It was smaller in diameters than I expected – roughly 2.5 cm.
Make your mind up. $10 is a lot or a little? If it’s a lot then why snipe at Apple wanting to save it. If it’s a little, why are you bothered? If you mean $10 is a lot to you but nothing to Apple then remember it’s $10 to you but it’s millions to Apple.
And if I paid more for a better version of the same thing, why shouldn’t I get better stuff? That’s actually ALL I get for the extra money, since it’s exactly the same functionality.
Just wait until all the third party bands, chargers, stands, screen protectors, bumpers start hitting Amazon………..$$
In the meantime ……..”oh noooooooo; I’m devistated……..Apple Watch is dooooooooomed……everyone return them”….LOL!!
Where the hell is my UPS guy with my Watch???!!!
I despise UPS. Wish it had been FedExed. FedEx always arrives before noon. Had my iPhone 6 at 10am. UPS always drags their feet and arrive at the last possible and most inconvenient times, if at all. UPS had once mistakenly delivered my package to a Walmart for some reason, took weeks to get back. Boxes are always mishandled. Ugh I could go on and on. But yeah, sucks they used UPS and not FedEx.
In fact, I would pay $20 more to have FedEx over UPS.
Hey at least it’s not DHL. They are honestly a laughable organization (at least here in the USA).
Seriously the most incompetent company I’ve even encountered. It’s almost as if something is up with the way the drivers get paid… Like they get paid per delivery attempt, so they falsify it. I’ve been waiting ON MY PORCH and watched the tracking switch from “out for delivery” to “recipient not home” in real time. Three times in the last six months I’ve had to go pick the package up on the third day, after waiting all day for the driver to screw me over, and even that’s practically impossible – they keep putting it back on the truck the next day.
They need to rethink some shit, fire some people, and get their act together.
There’s even a sign in the pick up area that says something along the lines of “violent behavior will not be tolerated”.
You only have a sign like that if you’re expecting pissed off people to come in constantly.
That last sentence made me literally lol
The last time I had to pick-up a package in person, I wore my baseball cap that read “Another Dissatisfied Customer,” while waiting in line to get my package. They got my package and hurried me out of there (I refused to take the cap off.). 🖖😀⌚️
Nice. Gotta get me a hat like that.
I got mine from: http://www.despair.com/ I don’t think they sell the hat anymore; but they have a lot of anti motivational stuff. 🖖😀⌚️
support USPS. Apple should offer USPS express service
UPS delivered your watch to my front door. Nice watch. /s
LOVE the idea of the watch but the charger and battery life are what killed it for me. I spend over 100 nights a year in hotels and I already have to charge my laptop, iPad, bluetooth headset,and backup battery. Usually marriott gives me one plug at the desk. I also carry a Laptop charger, iPad charger, cord for my headset and another for my battery backup. I’m FULL UP on chargers and cord. I can’t believe I now need ANOTHER type of cable for the watch and its CRAZY big. This cord thing is out of control, but I suspect it will get better in 2.0.
Get a powered USB hub, and charge all of your non-Mac devices from a single power cable, which is daisy-chained to your laptop, and therefore just one power plug is needed.
Buy a power strip, or a USB hub. All your problems solved.
Funny. I wouldn’t have been ‘devastated’ if you hadn’t told me about the metal charger. Now I am crushed. The Watch that I loved from the first minute I touched it is leaving a sour taste in my mouth. I’d better take it out of my mouth, then. Ah. That’s much better. C’mon people, it’s a charger! Who cares???
I would say the same. Like who cares. But actually I felt it in real life and it feels “high end”. So, “who cares with cherry on top” more like.
How is this different than the plastic iPhone/ipad charge cords?
It’s not. However, it is different from the metal chargers of the higher end watch models. Just like the article states.
Apple fscking you and you say “who cares it’s a charger”
I guess that’s why Apple is fscking you.
You are a sad sad thing. Go play with your droid.
Plastic or metal won’t make any difference. The weak point on the cable will be just beyond the stain relief.
At least the plastic ones should be a cheaper option when it comes time to purchase a replacement cable.
Let the 1 star votes begin, because I spoke the truth.
Go to Monoprice.com for cables. Ordered 6′ black ones for the whole family. Very rugged and they come in many lengths and colors. Oh yea, lifetime warranty.
I got my Sport today, and I didn’t even notice the charger. It’s a gorgeous watch!
I got the plastic charger with a Sport version of Apple Watch. I was expecting the gold one. Come on Apple stop fscking us around.
Do I really have to put slash s on the end of this one? For the stupids out ther, I guess I should.
/s
Total non-issue. I noticed that the charger wasn’t made of metal the moment I took it out of the box. I didn’t care. It’s not like I’m going to spend my whole day staring about the charger. It’s the watch that’s important.