Have you torn down any more recent chargers? Curious if quality standards for Apple or other consumer electronics companies have held steady, improved, or gotten worse in the 9 intervening years.
Maybe an idea for a test at some point? Simulate typical environments they might be in, blow them up, and see how much mayhem they create?
Given that USB-C PD's EPR upgrade will allow 48V @ 5A for a total of 240W of power, the potential for a fire due to shoddy (too thin/fraudulent or damaged) cables, dirt or loose solder connections on the sockets (causing high resistance and thus heat build-up at the spot) is not negligible.
The most troublesome potential is the combination of PD controller bugs on the charger side leading to 48V/5A on the cable, and a lack of protection circuitry on the side of a device that has been designed for 5V-only.
> The most troublesome potential is the combination of PD controller bugs on the charger side leading to 48V/5A on the cable, and a lack of protection circuitry on the side of a device that has been designed for 5V-only.
Double yikes. I always thought that if you're going to put radically different voltages through ports, they should have different-enough connectors that you can't plug one into the other. I guess I'm old-fashioned.
I get the desire to end the connector conspiracy and just have One Connector to Rule Them All, but in the end we've just created another connector conspiracy, especially when you throw Thunderbolt into the mix.