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They didn't have a technical reason to be that late, but they probably had a marketing reason -- and I don't mean "they made money by licensing Lightning." (The

They didn't have a technical reason to be that late, but they probably had a marketing reason -- and I don't mean "they made money by licensing Lightning." (They did, obviously, but I don't think it was raking in big bucks, at least not Apple standards.) When the iPhone switched to Lightning from the clunky 34-pin iPod connector, a whole lot of people got pissed off with Apple and stayed pissed off with them for years. Literally years. People were convinced Apple did it just to sell more cables. So if you're Apple, and you know the history of the last time you forced everyone to buy new cables, and now you have orders of magnitude more people using your phone…you probably put this off as absolutely long as possible. Would they have gotten there without pressure from the EU? Honestly, I think so -- I used to agree with you, but when the iPad Air, not just the Pro, went to USB-C, I changed my mind.

kalleboo 2y ago
When Apple went up on stage and announced Lightning, they said "this is our connector for the next 10 years". 10 years later, almost on the dot, they replaced Lightning on the iPhone with USB-C. Doesn't seem weird at all to me.
- talldayo 2y ago
  It wouldn't be weird if they simply picked one side and stuck with it. They put USB-C on Mac, because obviously Lightning couldn't fill the role they wanted with Thunderbolt. And then they made iPhones Lightning because... they wanted to sell IP to cable manufacturers. And they made the Magic Trackpad/Keyboard accessories use Lightning because... why again? It's just USB, it probably takes more work to make a Lightning peripheral than a USB-C one. The more you think about MFi and Lightning design patents the harder it is to believe that they were simply being honest and sticking to their word.
  - deleted 2y ago
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  - troupo 2y ago
    When they made Lightning USB didn't even have an agreed-upon charging standard. Much less all the other requirements Apple had for the cable. Do not try and pretend that USB was any good when Lightning was announced. And even USB-C is a mess of conflicting and confusing optional specifications.
    - talldayo 2y ago
      > And even USB-C is a mess of conflicting and confusing optional specifications. Certainly one that Apple didn't struggle to navigate, considering they designed Thunderbolt around the specification.
      - troupo 2y ago
        As I understand, original Thunderbolt was mostly Intel's work, and Apple figured out how to have it with the mini-DP connector. Later Thunderbolt is Intel doing the right thing: they took many of the features that USB-C lists as optional, and made them required for Thunderbolt specification. That's why the first M1 Macbook was Thunderbolt-capable/enabled, not fully Thunderbolt certified

kalleboo 2y ago

When Apple went up on stage and announced Lightning, they said "this is our connector for the next 10 years". 10 years later, almost on the dot, they replaced Lightning on the iPhone with USB-C. Doesn't seem weird at all to me.

talldayo 2y ago
It wouldn't be weird if they simply picked one side and stuck with it. They put USB-C on Mac, because obviously Lightning couldn't fill the role they wanted with Thunderbolt. And then they made iPhones Lightning because... they wanted to sell IP to cable manufacturers. And they made the Magic Trackpad/Keyboard accessories use Lightning because... why again? It's just USB, it probably takes more work to make a Lightning peripheral than a USB-C one. The more you think about MFi and Lightning design patents the harder it is to believe that they were simply being honest and sticking to their word.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- troupo 2y ago
  When they made Lightning USB didn't even have an agreed-upon charging standard. Much less all the other requirements Apple had for the cable. Do not try and pretend that USB was any good when Lightning was announced. And even USB-C is a mess of conflicting and confusing optional specifications.
  - talldayo 2y ago
    > And even USB-C is a mess of conflicting and confusing optional specifications. Certainly one that Apple didn't struggle to navigate, considering they designed Thunderbolt around the specification.
    - troupo 2y ago
      As I understand, original Thunderbolt was mostly Intel's work, and Apple figured out how to have it with the mini-DP connector. Later Thunderbolt is Intel doing the right thing: they took many of the features that USB-C lists as optional, and made them required for Thunderbolt specification. That's why the first M1 Macbook was Thunderbolt-capable/enabled, not fully Thunderbolt certified