15-04-2025
Apple's Beats Unveils 1st-Ever USB-C Cables In New Colors And Unexpected Sizes
If you think of the brand Beats, you probably see images of headphones with the distinctive b logo. But to add to the range, Beats, owned by Apple, has today announced its first cables. Here's why you should care.
Beats is making charging and transfer cables.
Apple
Sure, charging cables aren't always the product to get the heart racing, but the company came up with something off the beaten path last fall when it released iPhone cases that went on to be highly praised.
So, here, there are surprises along the way. First, there are four colors to choose between, with names that suggest the speed (for data transfer or charging) that you might desire: Bolt Black, Surge Stone, Nitro Navy, and Rapid Red.
Rapid Red is the signature bright red you've seen on Beats headphones since day one. I
Beats USB-C cable in Rapid Red.
Apple
like Surge Stone with its deftly contrasting logo quietly peeping out at you.
The second surprise is the length of the cable. Sometimes you need a full-length cable, but often you don't. So, there's a choice here. The regular length is 1.5 meters, which the footnotes say is 4 feet 11 inches. But there's also an option that's just 8 inches, or 20cm, which is great for connecting your phone to your laptop to charge it, or to connect your iPhone to CarPlay, say.
Beats cables come in four colors.
Apple
Beats, though owned by Apple, has always tended towards being platform-agnostic. So, there are three different kinds of cables: USB-C to USB-C, USB-A to USB-C and USB-C to Lightning. Apple may not be making any devices with Lightning connectors any more, but there are still millions of them out there which need cables.
Nitro Navy, also attractive, is only available for the USB-C to USB-C cable and only the 1.5 meter length. And the USB-A to USB-C and USB-C to Lightning cable in Rapid Red is coming later in the year, in the summer.
Beats USB-C to Lightning cable in Surge Stone.
Apple
Everything else is available from today, with a single cable, either length, costing $18.99 (£18.99 in the U.K.) You can also buy a two-pack of 1.5-meter cables for $34.99 (£34.99) in Bold Black only.
Though Apple has made colored cables for the Mac, it's strangely unimaginable it would make colorful charging cables of its own. Beats is an effective way to make this happen.
