Outcry over iPhone 'Error 53' and bad USB Type-C cables

Beware of iPhone home button repairs and bad USB cables. I'm Bridget Carey this is your cnet update. [MUSIC] Hey kids, Today's pop quiz. What happens when you try to charge your devices with a bad quality cable? The answer is something one Google engineer had to experience the hard way when a bad USB Type-C cable fried his Chromebook Pixel laptop. Benson Leung was testing various USB C cables and posting reviews about them on Amazon. He's come across plenty of cheap junk, but when he used a model made by a company called Surge Tech It destroyed his gadgets. He took a closer look and saw the cable was completely mis-wired, which is very dangerous. USB type-c is a new type of charging and data transfer port. It's appearing in more devices. Apple put it in the new Mac Book, HP Spectre X2 uses one. And the latest Nexus smart phones hae them, like the 6P. But you need to be skeptical and not instantly trust any company that makes a cable or adapter for this new port. Use the cords from the gadget maker, or read online reviews very carefully, and use the same caution with any of your cords. Bad third party charging cables have been known to ruin phones, or worse. Cause battery fires. Now let's say a bad cord isn't your problem. Your phone works, but you just busted the screen. Well, Apples stores changed the policy, and will now take back iPhones with broken screens or cameras giving you store credit. An Apple spokesman confirmed the new policy after it was first reported by the site 9to5mac. But, if you break the home button with a touch ID fingerprint scanner just go directly to an Apple Store to get it fixed. Do not go to an independent repair shop. iPhone 6 and 6S users who got the touch ID button repaired are complaining. Complaining that their phones are completely brick and useless after downloading the latest software update. So if you did get your phone fixed, do not download the new iOS update if you haven't already. The bug is called Error 53 and there's nothing that can be done to reverse it. Apple confirmed that this happens as a security measure to discourage tampering of the touch Id.. By someone who wants to steal information. And some people are arguing that this is Apple's way of imposing a Monopoly on repairs. That's it for this tech news update. But there's always more to explore at cnet.com. From our studios in New York, I'm Bridget Carey. [MUSIC]