After getting complaint reports, Apple has urged its customers not to use any third-party power chargers with its products and devices as these cause safety issues such as burns and electrocutions. These third-party adapters are not approved by Apple creating damages to one of the chips in iPhone 5.

mendmyi, a UK repair company, said any cheap third-party iPhone charger and USB cable can easily damage the U2 IC chip placed below Apple's A6 SoC on the logic board of iPhone 5, which makes the device not to respond when booting up and always shows 1 percent battery life even after charging.

The U2 IC chip routes power to the battery and controls the charging, the sleep/wake button and also some of the USB functions. Once it is damaged, the chip will not respond properly and iPhone 5 will not turn on again. There is a possibility of replacing the battery but the problem continues when the battery runs down.

It is unclear whether the issue is restricted to iPhone 5 only as there are also complaints from the users regarding third-party charger issues with iPhone 5c. It may use the same component but iPhone 5s and iPhone 5 use different U2 IC components. Users with such issues with the third-party cables can get their devices repaired by Apple or any other repair outlet.

Apple has always been against such third-party products and always recommended users to stay away from such cables. When a Chinese woman was electrocuted by a forge charger, Apple in mid-2013 launched a third-party power adapter recycling program which lasted for three months. Apple also provided $10 credit towardsan original company branded charger.

Apple also sent a warning to all iOS 7 customers when they are using unauthorized cables or accessories in their devices. iPhone 5, fourth generation iPad and original iPad mini, has been included with the company's lightning connector that develops several different chips to control the dynamic pin assignment and further identifying whether the connectors are from reliable channels.