[dt2m]

It looks a lot cleaner without. I prefer it the way it is

[xdennis]

This is the same way Apple designs cables. Every engineer ever has known that you need add strain relief for cables, but Apple removes them because "it doesn't look clean". There's also probably a financial incentive.

[ksaj]

That's probably also why Apple's USB adapters all look the same, even if they aren't. You can only tell by looking at the actual connector.