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Shaving a few mm is definitely a good justification for doing it. Every company is pushing for thinner devices. The dock connector has been in use for years, i

Shaving a few mm is definitely a good justification for doing it. Every company is pushing for thinner devices. The dock connector has been in use for years, it was fit for purpose then and it's not fit for purpose now. Apple as a company has never shown any remorse over killing technology and ports it thinks are outdated and pushing forward. Personally I think it's the best thing of the new iPhone, the current connector sucks and is overly fragile, but I'm not invested in docks or similar mostly as the change has been expected since the iPhone 4ish.

bonaldi 14y ago
"never shown any remorse over killing technology and ports it thinks are outdated and pushing forward" Whenever it has done this, it has nearly always been in the name of progress -- it has made things better. This makes them worse. It takes you from a world with nearly a half-billion usable dock connectors and devices in it to a world with none (unless you remember your adapter everywhere you go). This is not them replacing ADB with USB. This is them replacing VGA with ADC (their ill-fated custom video adapter which was rightfully killed when the market adopted DVI.) The market now is settling on Micro-USB (which would have equally given them their few mm back) The advantages of "adaptive digital interface" pale next to the advantages of "a charger and connection, wherever in the world you are".
- nicholassmith 14y ago
  Well, ADC was killed when Apple realised it was unsustainable in the market. It wasn't actually a bad idea, combining power, signal and USB over one cable. 20/20 hindsight though. This thins out the device, it improves the connector and it makes it more durable and it builds for the future, it's a good thing (in my eyes). It takes you into a world where there's many dock connectors that don't work with your device, and if you're an iPhone 5 buyer then you deal with that. And saying 'they should have used Micro-USB' (in not so many words) would also break compatibility with the docks, so the only thing they could have done is not change anything, which is also a bad idea.
- arrrg 14y ago
  But Micro USB sucks. I do not want that flimsy crap in any of my devices. No thank you. It has been ten years or so. It’s allowed to change your connector every decade. That seems very reasonable to me – and in many way this seems like the perfect connector (durable, reversible).
Dylan16807 14y ago
Shaving mm would be a good enough excuse. But they're not. Lightning and microusb are about the same size, a third as thick as the phone body. They could easily put in both ports but it wouldn't be Apple enough.
- nicholassmith 14y ago
  What, side-by-side?
  - Dylan16807 14y ago
    Sure. Maybe even vertically if they were so inclined. There is plenty of space when it comes to ports this small.
    - nicholassmith 14y ago
      No offense but that would look horrible from a design perspective, and would take up too much space in terms of internal components. Apple is trying to reduce component size to get bigger batteries in, anything that can be cut down in size is going to be.

bonaldi 14y ago

"never shown any remorse over killing technology and ports it thinks are outdated and pushing forward" Whenever it has done this, it has nearly always been in the name of progress -- it has made things better. This makes them worse. It takes you from a world with nearly a half-billion usable dock connectors and devices in it to a world with none (unless you remember your adapter everywhere you go). This is not them replacing ADB with USB. This is them replacing VGA with ADC (their ill-fated custom video adapter which was rightfully killed when the market adopted DVI.) The market now is settling on Micro-USB (which would have equally given them their few mm back) The advantages of "adaptive digital interface" pale next to the advantages of "a charger and connection, wherever in the world you are".

nicholassmith 14y ago
Well, ADC was killed when Apple realised it was unsustainable in the market. It wasn't actually a bad idea, combining power, signal and USB over one cable. 20/20 hindsight though. This thins out the device, it improves the connector and it makes it more durable and it builds for the future, it's a good thing (in my eyes). It takes you into a world where there's many dock connectors that don't work with your device, and if you're an iPhone 5 buyer then you deal with that. And saying 'they should have used Micro-USB' (in not so many words) would also break compatibility with the docks, so the only thing they could have done is not change anything, which is also a bad idea.
arrrg 14y ago
But Micro USB sucks. I do not want that flimsy crap in any of my devices. No thank you. It has been ten years or so. It’s allowed to change your connector every decade. That seems very reasonable to me – and in many way this seems like the perfect connector (durable, reversible).

Dylan16807 14y ago

Shaving mm would be a good enough excuse. But they're not. Lightning and microusb are about the same size, a third as thick as the phone body. They could easily put in both ports but it wouldn't be Apple enough.

nicholassmith 14y ago
What, side-by-side?
- Dylan16807 14y ago
  Sure. Maybe even vertically if they were so inclined. There is plenty of space when it comes to ports this small.
  - nicholassmith 14y ago
    No offense but that would look horrible from a design perspective, and would take up too much space in terms of internal components. Apple is trying to reduce component size to get bigger batteries in, anything that can be cut down in size is going to be.