[Dylan16807]

Not exactly. You now have to trust one entity instead of many, and it's an extremely small chip that can't do much, and the hack would have to be built in at purchase time, and the hack would have to take over your phone to exfiltrate.

But if you're worried then get one that has a resistor and only a resistor.

[stavros]

Aren't all these considerations exactly the same as for the cable with the screen?

[Dylan16807]

It depends on what kind of attack you're trying to block.

If you want to block attacks that use the external data pins, then a USB condom will keep you safe. Regardless of whether it has a chip in it.

If you want to block standalone attacks from a malicious cable, then a USB condom wasn't going to help in the first place. For standalone attacks in particular, the risk from a chip-having condom is similar to the risk from a cable, but a cable can use bigger and scarier chips than the one in the PortaPow.