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anyone with a new iphone would not be able to help. when will Apple get serious about using usb-c universally?

RandallBrown 7y ago
They'd at least be able to help with a wall wart... Apple is in a tricky place because there are so many accessories in the world that work with Lightning. Customers would be pissed if they had to use dongles for all of that stuff they already own. The 30 Pin connector existed for 9 years before Lightning came out in 2012, so we still probably have a few years before they consider abandoning it. I imagine by then, USB-C will actually be the universal solution that everyone wants. Part of me is actually expecting Apple to abandon cables altogether and just provide wireless charging/syncing.
- akersten 7y ago
  > Customers would be pissed if they had to use dongles for all of that stuff they already own. Eh, they were brave enough to do it for the 3.5mm jack, I don't see why they couldn't do it here. So I think the real reason is they want to continue to sell $40 lightening cables, or whatever they cost now.
  - macintux 7y ago
    Or, as the article points out... > In Apple’s case, the hesitation at least makes some sense. As long as USB-C compatibility is more tangled than a late-stage game of Twister, it will remain anathema to Cupertino’s mantra of “it just works.” USB-C can still feel more like "it works, just not always how you were expecting." Apple already achieved USB-C’s space-saving and reversibility benefits seven years ago with the introduction of its Lightning cable. And in those seven years, an expansive ecosystem of Lightning peripherals has emerged, all of which would head straight for the scrap heap with a jump to USB-C.
    - Dylan16807 7y ago
      If they had jumped straight to USB-C on their phones it never would have been tangled. Exact data speeds don't matter for a phone, they could have avoided any headphone adapter confusion, and the issue of charging-only cables exists no matter what, on lightning too. And adding an adapter onto lightning plugs is less invasive than the issues with removing the headphone jack. Edit: So would anyone like to explain how any of that is such a bad contribution it deserves a downvote? I'm always surprised when a comment gets silently downvoted, it's never something where I expected any downvotes...
      - OkGoDoIt 7y ago
        Lightning came out several years before USB-C. So I don’t think going straight to USB-C was really an option. (not suggesting that’s why you were downvoted, just clarifying the timeline of the ports)
        oarsinsync 7y ago
        Two years, to be precise. Lightning devices were shipping end of 2012. USB-C design was finalised end of 2014.
        Dylan16807 7y ago
        And it was announced in 2013, with Apple part of the group helping design it. I'm sure they could have shipped it in 2014 if they had really wanted to. Other devices were shipping only a couple months later. Maybe the development started too late for Apple to involve it in their plans? But that would have been a really rapid pace. Overall it looks a lot like this was Apple fussiness.
- shsjxjbsbs 7y ago
  The new iPhones come with a USB-C wall wart and a USB-C-to-lightning cable.
- kalleboo 7y ago
  > Part of me is actually expecting Apple to abandon cables altogether and just provide wireless charging/syncing Apple was probably planning on that as well, but the AirPower fiasco has probably set that plan back quite a few years.
- Dylan16807 7y ago
  Well they dug that grave themselves. They knew USB C was coming. They could have had some of the first devices with USB C.
  - OkGoDoIt 7y ago
    How did they know USB-C was coming? Didn’t lightning debut something like 4 years before USB-C? And one would assume they had been engineering lightning for at least a year or more before that.
- SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
  > Apple is in a tricky place because there are so many accessories in the world that work with Lightning. Customers would be pissed if they had to use dongles for all of that stuff they already own. To be fair that didn't stop them dropping the legacy iPod dock connector for Lightning in the first place.

They'd at least be able to help with a wall wart... Apple is in a tricky place because there are so many accessories in the world that work with Lightning. Customers would be pissed if they had to use dongles for all of that stuff they already own. The 30 Pin connector existed for 9 years before Lightning came out in 2012, so we still probably have a few years before they consider abandoning it. I imagine by then, USB-C will actually be the universal solution that everyone wants. Part of me is actually expecting Apple to abandon cables altogether and just provide wireless charging/syncing.

akersten 7y ago
> Customers would be pissed if they had to use dongles for all of that stuff they already own. Eh, they were brave enough to do it for the 3.5mm jack, I don't see why they couldn't do it here. So I think the real reason is they want to continue to sell $40 lightening cables, or whatever they cost now.
- macintux 7y ago
  Or, as the article points out... > In Apple’s case, the hesitation at least makes some sense. As long as USB-C compatibility is more tangled than a late-stage game of Twister, it will remain anathema to Cupertino’s mantra of “it just works.” USB-C can still feel more like "it works, just not always how you were expecting." Apple already achieved USB-C’s space-saving and reversibility benefits seven years ago with the introduction of its Lightning cable. And in those seven years, an expansive ecosystem of Lightning peripherals has emerged, all of which would head straight for the scrap heap with a jump to USB-C.
  - Dylan16807 7y ago
    If they had jumped straight to USB-C on their phones it never would have been tangled. Exact data speeds don't matter for a phone, they could have avoided any headphone adapter confusion, and the issue of charging-only cables exists no matter what, on lightning too. And adding an adapter onto lightning plugs is less invasive than the issues with removing the headphone jack. Edit: So would anyone like to explain how any of that is such a bad contribution it deserves a downvote? I'm always surprised when a comment gets silently downvoted, it's never something where I expected any downvotes...
    - OkGoDoIt 7y ago
      Lightning came out several years before USB-C. So I don’t think going straight to USB-C was really an option. (not suggesting that’s why you were downvoted, just clarifying the timeline of the ports)
      - oarsinsync 7y ago
        Two years, to be precise. Lightning devices were shipping end of 2012. USB-C design was finalised end of 2014.
        Dylan16807 7y ago
        And it was announced in 2013, with Apple part of the group helping design it. I'm sure they could have shipped it in 2014 if they had really wanted to. Other devices were shipping only a couple months later. Maybe the development started too late for Apple to involve it in their plans? But that would have been a really rapid pace. Overall it looks a lot like this was Apple fussiness.
shsjxjbsbs 7y ago
The new iPhones come with a USB-C wall wart and a USB-C-to-lightning cable.
kalleboo 7y ago
> Part of me is actually expecting Apple to abandon cables altogether and just provide wireless charging/syncing Apple was probably planning on that as well, but the AirPower fiasco has probably set that plan back quite a few years.
Dylan16807 7y ago
Well they dug that grave themselves. They knew USB C was coming. They could have had some of the first devices with USB C.
- OkGoDoIt 7y ago
  How did they know USB-C was coming? Didn’t lightning debut something like 4 years before USB-C? And one would assume they had been engineering lightning for at least a year or more before that.
SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
> Apple is in a tricky place because there are so many accessories in the world that work with Lightning. Customers would be pissed if they had to use dongles for all of that stuff they already own. To be fair that didn't stop them dropping the legacy iPod dock connector for Lightning in the first place.