This feels like an advertisement article…single port USB-C PD chargers with 20-30W output in the <$10 range are not at all hard to find already.
Quality, higher-wattage ones are harder to come by at that price (e.g. 45W and up are $20+ for decent brands), but I can get a 2-pack of name-brand (Anker) 20W chargers for $10-15.
I’m guessing Ikea is just rebranding crappy chargers, so no thank you, I would rather not have my phone, tablet, etc get broken because I was too cheap to spend an extra $10 on a better brand charger.
What are you basing your ‘guess’ on? IKEA typically design their own products. They already produce Smart home speakers. Why do you suppose that this would be a rebranded product from somebody else?
- Large appliances are manufactured by other companies
- IKEA buys a lot of stuff instead of actually designing everything - so I’d expect them to buy something as simple as a USB charger
They’re making a big bet on smart home stuff, which is why they’re designing that kind of stuff more. They want to keep their customers coming back for smart home stuff so they can build an ecosystem, whereas they probably don’t care about USB chargers nearly as much.
I’m guessing they’re fine (they’re probably testing it), but I highly doubt they’re actually designing the USB chargers, and they’re probably not buying from a known brand (price would be too high).
20W chargers are cheap from name brands (2 pack for ~€10), but 45W chargers aren’t (like €20-30 for a basic 45W charger). So if they’re selling 45W chargers for cheap, they’re just likely rebranded stuff from a cheap manufacturer.
Your sources don’t say anything about the design, only manufacturing. The chargers could still very well be designed by IKEA, but made by another company. That sort of stuff is really common industry and can help keep the price down. This doesn’t mean that the product is cheaply designed or a literal rebrand of an existing product
The second one does, here’s a quote:
More basic items come directly from suppliers to skip the design and conception stage. However, it isn’t as easy as picking out items from a catalog. IKEA works with their world-class buyers to check the quality of the products and negotiate the price.
…
This means that they have to keep their shelves stocked with products to keep up with demand, so using both manufacturers and supplies ensures that new products will consistently make a turnaround.
I would assume a USB charger would fall under the “more basic items” part.
I take this to mean that instead of designing a product to be manufactured elsewhere, they sometimes buy products to relabel and put on the shelves, without going through any form of design process (though I’m guessing they do test this stuff).
I’ve reconsidered my view of Anker being a quality brand. I bought a USB C hub of their’s that was supposed to provide 100W power delivery, but it couldn’t keep a 65W Dell laptop happy. So, I powered the Dell separately and still used the hub. After a while the display port started to cut out.
I’ve also bought a USB C PD cable of their’s that was supposed to support 100W power delivery. With my 85W MacBook I noticed that the cable was starting to get hard (non-bendy) spots in it. Soon after my MacBook would report being unplugged when I did anything that would draw significant power.
Ok, so I go over to Amazon and start looking at reviews that are 2 or 3 stars and holy shit. I got the distinct feeling that these were the real reviews. They’re not good.
ikea needs to stop selling electronics to focus on their core business of shark pillow
