Q: The connectors for iPod and iPhone appear to be the same. Will an iPod charger work with an iPhone even though the package says designed for iPod?

– Mike

A: Generally, the answer to this question is yes, although there are a few caveats concerning the quality of the accessory in question.

Most current “Made-for-iPod” accessories from reputable manufacturers such as Griffin, Belkin, etc. should work with the iPod or iPhone equally well for charging purposes, and all of the accessories that we have tested thus far have shown no problems in terms of powering and charging the iPhone.

It should be noted, however, that there are two categories of charging accessories that may not be as reliable in this regard: Older charging accessories (ie, for the third and fourth generation iPod models), and many of the “no-name” accessories that are out there. In fact, it is not uncommon to find some of the cheaper generic iPod charging accessories to not even work with the new iPod classic or iPod nano models due to differences in manufacturing and/or power requirements.

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Jesse Hollington was a Senior Editor at iLounge. He's written about Apple technology for nearly a decade and had been covering the industry since the early days of iLounge. In his role at iLounge, he provided daily news coverage, wrote and edited features and reviews, and was responsible for the overall quality of the site's content.