Most of the company’s resources is dedicated towards new product design and there isn’t enough time - perhaps a waste of resources - to dedicate an engineering team for a new charger hinge. As we speak, research and design (R&D) is probably already underway for Apple’s next iteration of the next Apple product. Increasing the amount of time spent on machinery to produce a metal hinge and train employees how to produce it would be too expensive.įigure 2: Photo demonstrating the cord tabs and their plastic hinges Apple’s product production is based in China where labor is cheaper. There’s also a global economic component to this. For example, if metal was considered as the hinge material, the higher price would’ve driven profit margins down and potentially force the price of the Apple charger beyond its already exorbitant price. Using studier materials for the plastic cord tab hinge might’ve cost too much.
I think the cord tabs were designed this way because of a constraint in implementation cost. Let’s think why the charger might’ve been designed this way.
Replacing a charger also isn’t cheap: $79 I’ve had the tabs break off on me three times (thankfully under warranty) because they’re made of plastic, which makes them prone to damage. My issue is with the sturdiness of the tabs and the damage it has on the cord’s base. The user can close the tabs for portability. There are two flip tabs that can open to wrap around the cable. Figure 1: Photo showing Apple’s Mac charger with the charging cable wrapped around the cord tabsĪs amazing as it is, I’m critical of one design aspect of the Mac charger: its cord tabs.
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