It very much comes down to how you use them. Within my household, I don’t think I’ve ever had an Apple cable go bad. However I’ve had third party bad from purchase, and my teens go through cables every 6-12 months.

What kind of abuse do your cables go through?

• do you pull from the hard plastic or the cable?
• are they on the floor being stepped on or with chairs rolling over them?
• when carrying are they just stuffed in your backpack or neatly rolled up in a plastic pocket or in a baggie?
• when tangled, do you just pull harder or do you untangle?