It takes only a while for China to fabricate the Lightning Cable for the latest iOS devices. Although Apple has added an authentication chip in the cable, China factory is able to reverse engineer and make this cable available and cheaper.
However, do not expect it to be VERY cheap at this moment. I am sure that the factory in Shenzhen is selling it way above the manufacturing price. Currently, I heard from my source that this cable had sold out at super fast rate. You should be able to get it RMB100 (approximately S$20). Of course, if you buy in thousands, that will be a different story.
And here is a comparison of the original and a replicate one.
Notice the quality differences? The base is bigger for the replicate one.
From the 2 pieces that I saw, one of them had failed to charge the iPhone 5 on one side. By right, it is supposed to be able to charge using any sides.
I did not really asked if the data transfer rate is affected or not. However, initial understanding is that it is slow. So, my advice is to buy original cable or wait for more choices (different factories). Don’t risk spoiling your iOS devices 🙂