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Not fair. It was a great cable. It came out when everyone else was using mini and mico usb which both sucked hard ass. They weren’t reversible, and they broke easily.
It was a good cable when it came out, but as soon as USB-C became common it was obsolete. It was limited to USB2 speeds and did not support fast charging.
Which, seeing how Apple is still hellbent on continuing to only have USB2 speeds even with USB-C, plus lockout chips, their new connector is obsolete as well.
USB-C is still not “common”. There are now all kinds of different cables with nothing in common except a form factor. Also, USB-C came out 2.5 years after lightning and didn’t match feature parity until the Thunderbolt spec and that was 5 years later. At that point, accessories and cables that used the Lightning port numbered in the millions, if not billions.
Also, what do you mean? The new phones support USB3…
How is USB-C not common? It’s the default for every remotely modern android phone I’ve seen, all the modern game consoles I’ve seen (eg, the Switch and PS5 controllers), and many other random electronics use it (I even had a covid tester that was plugged into USB-C). All my laptops these days use it (including two Chromebooks, a high end MacBook, and a Windows laptop) and of those, only the Windows laptop even had USB-A ports (ie, the other laptops only had USB-C).
I won’t pretend it’s perfectly ubiquitous. There’s lots of older electronics still using micro or mini USB (there’s been no reason for manufacturers to update older devices). But it’s definitely common in my book.
It’s not “common” in the sense that a USB-C connector can be all kinds of different implementations of the USB2/3 standards. To use your example, using a USB-C charger other than the default Nintendo one can short out a Switch completely and kill it. Compared to products that use Lightning, the number out there dwarves the current USB-C landscape. There are tons of devices that still use USB-A and USB-B and USB-C hubs don’t really exist.
In that case either the charger or the Switch was faulty, no matter the protocol in use, the devices should negotiate which charging profile to use. You can’t blame a non-spec implementation on the protocol, that’s on the manufacturer.
From what I’ve been able to see, that specific issue stems from a combination of cheap chargers/docking stations and Nintendo changing the USB-C port tolerances to allow smooth sliding in and out of the dock. Again, don’t blame the standard if the manufacturer decided to implement their own crappy version of it.
Only the Pro models, I believe. Funnily enough, typical Apple too, since they are bundling only a usb2.0 cable in the box for the Pro as well.
I still don’t understand the reason for the speed limit tbh. It just makes their product look like shit.
Faster USB chipset is more expensive and potentially also physically larger with more traces on the circuit board to deal with I imagine. And faster data speeds require more attention to how the traces are routed to prevent interference. I very much doubt this is anything other than to save a relatively small amount on materials and engineering costs, on an already overpriced phone, and/or to try and “encourage” you to use iCloud by making offline sync and backup painfully slow.
As someone involved in engineering boards with both USB 2.0 and 3.0 the costs are negligible. You’re not wrong about more traces or about it requiring more attention but per phone this cost less then a few cents.
I think it’s more about the upsell to the Pro line or as you suggested encouraging use of iCloud.
As I remember it the USB 3.0 chips can cause interference in 2.4GHz range unless shielding is used and the USB chipset is kept far away from the 2.4Ghz antennas. Probably just “juice not worth the squeeze” on the smaller non-pro model, if there’s a significant chance it could interfere with Bluetooth and wifi.
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Yeah, I still think it’s a great mechanical interface, if not the best. Would’ve been great if rather than killing it, regulatory bodies had forced USB to adopt the lightning design for the C type.
Lightning doesn’t have near the capabilities of USB C. Lightning had its time but it’s pretty clear that USB C is superior.
Lightning doesn’t have near the capabilities of USB C. … pretty clear that USB C is superior.
Are you talking about the capabilities of the USB protocol 3.x, or the mechanical design like I was? I don’t know a single property where the mechanical design of USB is superior to Lightning, but I’m ready to be enlightened.
The mechanical design was patented by apple, THEY decided that others were not allowed to use it (unless they pay).
One area where that is the case is the clamping mechanism. With USB-C, the moving parts/springs, which are the part of a connector that is most prone to failute are in the cable, which is both easier and significantly cheaper to replace than the charging port/device.
For example having 3x the pins is a big plus. I don’t know why you are so focused on not including the protocols a port can use. Apple will most likely use USB to make connections between PCs and their Phones possible. And you have to have connectors capable of carrying the signals for those protocols.
The huge speeds of USB 3.0 (USB 3.2 Gen 1x1) and up are because of added twisted pairs carrying the signals in duplex (Plus a new USB A connector). Anything above USB 3.2 (USB 3.2 Gen 1x2 and USB 3.2 Gen 3 2x2) needs to use USB-C because the older USB-A Connector doesn’t have enough pins to allow a connection to a cable with 4 twisted pairs (plus one for backwards compatibility).
I think the lighting connector is enough to allow for a USB 3.0 connection, but you would have to switch the signals after it comes out of the port somehow, as the 3rd pair is not used during FullSpeed (I think there’s an adapter that does this)
Even if they don’t use USB and develope their own protocol, it’s gonna benefit from more parralel connections
I don’t think this design could have work for USB 3.1 and more, even apple put USB -c as PD on there MacBook because it can deliver more watt (I think)
but yeah it was much better design than micro usb
And technically the connector itself is way beter by clicking into place.
No, if the clamp-mechanism breaks, you habe to replace the connector on the phone while with UsbC you only have to use a different cable.
Yeah if… the rest of your comment is nonsense. If a usb-c connector breaks on the phone a new cable is just as useless.
I like USB type C, it’s a great connector and lightyears better than micro-b, or even micro-b 3.0 but the biggest issue I’ve come across is that it’s so easy to get dirt in the phone connector.
In fact a couple months back I had to sit there with a super thin safety pin and clean all the compacted shmutz that had gotten in my phone connector, bexause it was so bad the clamp wasn’t engaging at all, and cables were getting more and more unreliable. Once I got it cleaned every cable I’ve ever bought worked perfectly.
Ive never seen the dirt issue or the clamp mechanism breaking on a lightning connector before - neither on my parents phones, or on the spare phone we keep as one of those old backup phones if someone’s phone gets smashed or drowned. But it’s not really saying much as I never kept the backup phone for long, as I hate apple and iPhones, so it’s entirely possible that under longer term use with me specifically that it could’ve got broken or dirty due to my uniquely rough way of handling things .
my current pixel 3a has a thick protective case, which has kept it mostly undamaged over the years I’ve had it, despite many drop events. The only thing that has stopped working on it was the NFC reader, and so far I’ve managed to avoid breaking the screen. I’ll probably keep using it till it stops functioning at this rate, as options for new phones don’t really fit my needs or wants.
I used to run a repair shop. USB-C is definitely a dust magnet. Lightning is no better though. I cleaned just as many Lightning ports as I did C ports. They were slightly easier to clean though, without that fragile central post getting in the way.
I’ve also worked on literally tens of thousands of iPhones, and have never seen the clamp break on a lightning port, so idk what that dude is talking about. The actual clamp is on the cable, it just sits in a hole inside the port along either wall.
I’ve cleaned out plenty of Lightning ports over the years. Filled with gunk. Most of the time the connector would still work, but in some cases intermittently or not at all.
Huh, I guess you’ve proved me wrong with that one. I will say though I wonder which one is easier to clean out. Can someone whose done both comment?
I am on my third usb-module on my phone. Luckily it is replaceable. I would really like the concept of sticking a . in a o (as it is with lightning) than to have an . in a O and fiddling a o between both (as in USB-C). I have never lost a cable through wear and tear so far though…
And they made sure no one else could develop a design with the same characteristics by patenting the fuck out of it. Thanks apple
What’s funny to me is that the solution to long term use was in their hands. They could have licensed it cheaply to other devices until it replaced the mini USB, then charged whatever they wanted for use once it was the defacto standard. Instead they clasped too tightly onto it and now it’s being forced into retirement
With how many cheap android phones have been produced, they’d be making money even if someone wasn’t buying an apple product, essentially taking a piece of the market share that wasn’t theirs.
But they did not see themselves as a utility supplier. They preferred having the superior charging cable over licensing it to others. This way they protected their market share on Iphones.
And then bundled it with a 5W charger?
I don’t know, maybe I’m just in a minority but personally I don’t care enough about what port is on a phone that that’s my primary concern when choosing a new phone. Sure, if a similarly spec’d phone at a similar price point drops I might take it into account, but for the most part I buy the best phone I can with the budget I have
Doesn’t matter how great the cable is, when it is proprietary it stinks.
It was a piece of shit, always. Doesn’t matter if it was technically better, it was not standardized so fuck lightning cables forever. Good riddance to seriously awful bullshit rubbish
As someone who has had 2 small fires started in their cup holder with that so called “technically better” cable I will never understand how apple was ever able to market an exposed contact charging cable in the first place.
Wow, hadn’t heard about that but it makes sense. Yeah this thread is way weird. So many people simping for a cable.
Doesn’t matter if it was technically better
Do you approach your life with such black and white emotional reactions? Fuck nuance, details, and critical evaluations, amirite? Bad guy good guy hurrdurr.
I’m not going to argue why standards are good, that’s self evident. Sorry you’re blind to this.
How’s this for nuance? Apple made billions of dollars by just choosing to be dicks. That’s the honest truth here. Simp all you want.
Standards can be good, it’s not black and white, and dismissing the technical merit outright is batshit insane. You lack critical thinking. It has nothing to do with any other meaningless term you want to throw around.
Right the person looking to advance society with standards can’t think critically but the person who sucks off apple against logic is a brain master.
sucks off apple against logic
Your lack of assessment is even more evident. I never one mentioned the company. You did.
Lol yeah that’s how it works
Nah. The only thing usbc has over lightning is transfer rates and charging speed.
Transfer rates don’t matter because how often do you dump 128gb over the wire and 500Mbps isn’t good enough?
Charging speed kinda matters but not really because the charge controllers on the phones are throttling down the lightning chargers anyway.
Remember: the eu is forcing usbc, a port designed for general purpose use that has a bunch of delicate pins and a plastic tongue, to replace lightning, a much simpler port designed to go in pockets.
This will ultimately make you unhappy.
USB-C has higher transfer rates if the device supports USB 3 standard. Since it will have multiple serial connections as compared to a single in USB 2. Since lightning had only 4 pins it couldn’t go beyond USB 2.
Same is the matter along with USB-C PD chip. It has to support and negotiate faster charging with the charger. This can be and as far as I know Apple will be restricted to Apple certified crap.
a port designed for general purpose use that has a bunch of delicate pins and a plastic tongue, to replace lightning, a much simpler port designed to go in pockets.
This will ultimately make you unhappy.
Android phones have been using it I think for the last 8 years. We do have pockets and keep our phone without covering the port. I still have a cable bought 4 years back that still works across multiple phones.
Oh you don’t have to tell me that usb phones have been in pockets. i know.
I fix electronics and people bring in phones all the time. Even though I’m not a phone shop and don’t even have a bench set up for phones. I get way, way more usb phones in for ports than lightning ones.
Now it’s not just usbc (although nowadays it almost always is), but I keep a big ol bin of different usb ports to replace with. I have done four lightning ports in comparison.
If people are lucky they just didn’t have a small enough pin to clean out the crud from around the tongue. Some will have one of the pins on the tongue bent back and shorting something out and confusing the controller, they might be able to get by without it or it may work for a little while once it’s straightened back out but I know that one’s coming back soon. Most have damage to the tongue from cleaning too vigorously using a field expedient tool or the port component itself is ripped off the board due to how well the very strong annular connection between a usbc port and cable transfer torque.
I like usbc for a bunch of stuff, but phones ain’t it.
Well there are more USB-C devices than lightning.
That’s true, but at least one a week for a few years now versus four ever? Nah. The ports too delicate for what users put it through.
Plus I get more apple stuff in general than the marketshare numbers would dictate. It gets repaired and resold longer. Massive amounts of usbc devices are throwaway and gimmies from institutions and carriers and are just disposed of when they break.
Some of that effect is the expense of apple stuff, some of it is the emotional attachment people build with a computer after they’ve used it for ten years, some of it is just plum retained value. People aren’t gonna chuck a laptop they can resell for $400 when it needs a $100 repair.
The only way that USB-C is better than lightning is all the things that a cable does
Begone Apple shill!
A phone cable. Lightning is a better phone cable than usbc. I say that because it’s more durable and easier to clean. Thats way, way more important than charging or transfer speed when the port knocks around in a pocket or purse 420-7/369.
But aPpLe bAd!!!
Ease of cleaning is a terrible reason to order one over the other though. Just grab a sim tool to gently scrape out fuzz, and you’re back to better charging speeds and data transfer speeds, literally the reason USB C 3.0 is superior.
When lightning came out, the other choice was MicroUSB which is an objectively bad connector that can burn in hell. I hate MicroUSB with a fiery passion. And people were really upset that Apple ditched the 30 pin connector so I cant fault them for keeping lightning so long. Either way I really don’t care because the only thing it changes for me is the cable I keep at my bedside. My data transfers are all done wirelessly. I don’t know why people think this is such a big deal, it is (mostly) just a charging port. As long as it doesn’t break if you breathe on it wrong like MicroUSB I’m happy.
I still have useless 30 pin connector accessories floating around.
Lightning is a worse cable because it is proprietary.
How many times have you encountered the problem of wanting to charge your phone at a friends place, and they don’t have your device specific cable?
In the last decade, I only encountered that with Apple devices.
I have only once encountered that problem. I don’t usually charge stuff outside home/work/car.
If I did, I’d keep my own cable because even before the advent of malicious cables people often had messed up stuff that only worked half the time.
Think “hey can I borrow that guitar cable?” “Sure!” “What the hell, this things buzzing all over the place!” “Oh, you gotta loop it around the strap peg and it doesn’t work with angled jacks.”
The idea of proprietary hardware nowadays is interesting. It used to be, especially in industrial and commercial uses, that proprietary meant you had to have something that could only be bought from one place and wasn’t publicly documented. An interface for a rohm drive for example. Those weird one-off parts and dongles were expensive and not well understood, so they definitely fit the definition and spirit of being proprietary.
It’s a little disingenuous to me to call a cable you can buy at any gas station for five bucks “proprietary”. Especially when searching “lightning pinout” gets immediate results.
Is it technically proprietary? Maybe. Is it proprietary in practice? Not in the slightest.
Yes who would care about transfer rates and charging speeds on a phone cable as compared to umm…
The phones all use heuristics to charge as slow as possible anyway in order to save the battery. A faster changing standard clearly isnt the solution.
Idk what you’re doing with your phone that 500Mbps isnt good enough. If it’s about system backups the first one takes fifteen minutes and everything afterwards is a diff.
I think 500mbps is a stretch tbh, even the spec’s 480 is still a stretch considering USB protocol overhead. If your device uses the much slower MTP then you’ve got that overhead on top of the USB protocol too.
That said, in real life this is not much more than 20MB/s. That’s more than adequate for internet, but this speed is 2005 laptop hard drive territory. Forget recording in 4k or 8k, because that footage is going to take a while to pull out - airdrop would probably be much faster than using the cable, which is embarassing IMO
Even if the lightning data transfer speed is “good enough”, you’re still paying big money for a premium device, where the manufacturer made a conscious decision to use tech from over two decades ago… when just adding two more lines to the SoC and switching the connector to something compatible is all it takes to benefit from the much greater transfer speeds now.
…actually meh I don’t really care lol, nobody is going to stop Apple from milking their customers regardless of how intuitive their software is.
Oh yeah. You’re not getting 480 out of that wire and airdrop is totally faster. 4k isn’t awful over airdrop though. Maybe I’m just glad it’s not ntsc real time capture like back in the day…
Ultimately I agree with you. It would have been good to add the other “side” to the receptacle and have plenty of lanes. You’d need some way to show that a wire is new lightning, but that’s small potatoes.
Ultimately though even with the bad speeds I think lightning is the better connector for a phone. Not many people are transferring video off their phone using a wire, most upload it directly. But everyone puts their phone in their pocket. I’ll take the connector you can easily and safely clean lint out of over the one that saves time transferring video any day.
Lightning is/was actually pretty great. Also remember that it was introduced before USB-C even existed.
Yeah alternative was MicroUSB which is dogshit.
I’m using my wife’s old android for YouTube. It has a microusb port and I really hate it.
Lighting was leaps better than that, but usb-c is really the king of ports at the moment.
No hate, but I cannot fathom feeling the way you do about Micro USB and not spending $200 on some of the very solid Android phones that have come out in the 9 years since USB C has been the standard.
I only started using it like a month ago and I’m already looking at a used galaxy s10e. They are like $140 where I live. But I will get a new iPhone first.
This is the only valid opinion.
Perhaps one day we get a magnetic replacement for USB-C.
Why a replacement? You can already buy usb c cables with detachable magnetic heads if you fancy that
Fair enough, an officially sanctioned extension would also be fine!
We can call it the USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Magnets, How Do They Work Edition
Because it is usb-c, the magnetised version is also officially sanctioned.
Would be a nice thing to have in the spec for the cable, as those ones aren’t compliant with the spec, and can in some cases cause problems, like on disconnect it might be possible for one of the PD pins to short against one of the data pins before the side delivering power has had time to process the disconnect.
It’s a pretty specific edge case and I’m sure not a problem most people have had or will run into, but would be nice if it could be part of the spec.
It’s the king of ports at the moment but I have concerns about the fact there’s that “prong” in the middle of the female connector. It seems like it could be something to break. I did like the fact there wasn’t anything in the middle of the lightning port, made it seem more durable to me over time (at least the port side, but that’s what you want with these things…)
Nevermind that the same connector could be USB 3.1 Gen X fuckton-gigabit, USB4, Thunderbolt 3 or 4… USB needs to learn from the WiFi groups recent rename scheme…
Lightening cables have easy to clean contacts and a hard to break jack, I have broken many many usb-c cables just stepping on them or rolling over them with an office chair or getting filled with lint on the inside of the jack.
Appledrone
I think the problem is that between lightning cables and USB-C, one is made by an asshole company who wants you to use it for your phone and literally nothing else, and one is useful for your phone and literally everything else.
USB-C wasn’t really useful for anything when Lightning was introduced, on account of it not even existing as a spec, let alone actual hardware, until 2 years later.
lightning suffered the same fate as FireWire before it: excellent protocol that would have benefited the users with mass adoption, hampered by Apple and their co-developers (in lightning’s case, Intel) charging too steep of licensing fees, rendering them niche
Funnily enough, Apple co-developed USB, introduced it in their laptops and everyone complained.
Because they ONLY did it to the laptops, you fuck. People complain about change just to complain it changed.
No need to insult me. Are you a teenager?
No need to simp for a trillion dollar company, are you a paid troll?
I’m not simping. Is that your alt?
Dafuq, also yes you are
They complained because they literally stripped away most or all the usb-a’s in that process, forcing people to have to use hubs.
Apple does this shit all the time, and people always hate it.
Apple is successful dongle company that also makes some hardware.
At the time it came out, definitely, considering its main competitors for a standardised connector were Mini USB and Micro USB, which were serviceable but not that great…
Could be worse though, you could’ve been stuck with “superspeed” Micro USB like some folks were, those were just plain awful to use.
pretty sure my samsung Note had that
The problem with mini and micro was that they were asymmetrical and very small, imo. at least you could tell which side the indent was on without looking with superspeed. Good luck getting it in the hole without looking, though.
I’m pretty sure Samsung released a couple phones with it. The Note 3, S5, and I think the active that year had it. I worked in retail then and everyone in awhile people would come in looking for the specific cable and had no idea it would charge with standard micro USB.
No
You can always tell the Apple fans, can’t you? This cable was hated by everyone when it came out because it broke everyones docks.
It also wasnt much faster, in fact, I’m almost positive the first phones were throttled, not unlike the new iPhone’s with type c.
Yeah, it’s amazing what people will stand up for. It’s quite odd.
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Connection technology was good, but materials used in cable and design of strain release was horrible. Never seen a cable disintegrate without any reason after couple of years.
It cost tens of millions of dollars to engineer a product that disintegrates on their own
Truly revolutionary
I totally have.
Just not on a cable I paid $30 for because I don’t buy overpriced trash.
So… every Apple first party cable?
Funnily enough my first ever Lightning cable that came with my iPod Touch 5G is so worn out you can see the 4 wires in it. Insulation and shield are completely gone at one end but it still works fine.
Thats how fires start.
Incidentally, I have a micro USB cable that came with my Nokia N97 (must be 2012 or something).
It’s flawless still and even after more than 10 years of service (now charging my xbox controller) it’s working fine.
I’ve tried purchasing identical “original” cables of same kind since then, but they all last a few months before getting lose our stop connecting.
5v are not going to start a fire 😅
Depends on the components you attach.
Something rated for 3v will start smoking, and if it is touching something flammable, it can start a fire.
Fun fact: Apple was part of the group that designed USB-C
Also why is it awesome on iPad Pros since years but no good on iPhones? The marketing was always contradicting itself.
I think they did promise to (it suggest they would?) support the lightning connector for a decade when they changed it from their original big connector.
I’m not naive enough to think that takes precedence over “money” as an answer, but maybe it was a factor?
I’d wager part of it was because of the outrage when they switched from the 30 pin was significant
The reason is money.
It’s more complicated than that. There are lots of people that will be very annoyed when they unbox their iPhone and their plug that they don’t think about at all doesn’t work in the 7 places they’ve left them.
Just wait.
Those Apple cables die very quickly, so replacing them with longer lasting cables is actually cost effective.
Sure, instead of 1 cable every 3 months it is 7 cables at the same time, but still no excuse.
I already did this moving from micro to USB-C and it wasn’t that bad. Plus if they’re apple people and have MacBooks/iPads they already got a few.
Oh well
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Nah it was a great move, earned them a couple billions in licensing fees
To the disadvantage of literally everyone
Capitalism in a nutshell.
Lightning was significantly ahead of the competition when it came out in 2012. Micro-USB is a terrible collection of ports. C came out two years later though, and quickly surpassed Lightning in almost every way.
The amount of USB type ports I’ve seen where the ‘tongue’ has been absolutely mangled is mind boggling — an issue that Lightning completely bypassed.
For example, I’m repairing some kids PS5 and both back USB ports have had their pins twisted and the plastic snapped off. The HDMI port pins are lifting from the mainboard and the front of the unit is scratched to high hell. I see some of the worst treated tech at my job, and those plastic bits get damaged a lot. While Apple needed to move to USB-C six years ago with the iPhone X, I will respect Lightning for this one thing.
Little tip - it’s usually because of pocket lint. Take a small piece of plastic or a toothpick and clean it out. 9 times out of 10, that’s all you need.
All cables have issues. One thing I see often only with iPhone cables are they’re always falling apart, especially the outer parts near the end.
And yet I never have USBC problems, but had multiple I phones that started failing to charge via the wired port.
C came out 4 years later. Not two. And C has tons of problems with it still.
USB-C that basically Apple created and started pushing hard since 2016 (only ports on MacBooks at the time) ✨ damn I love Apple
“Basically Apple created” is a bit reductionist. The USB-IF also includes Microsoft, HP, Intel and Texas Instruments amongst a couple of others (can’t recall them off the top of my head).
Also Thunderbolt was created by both Intel and Apple in collaboration…
I know, but there are rumors that Apple was the biggest contributor but didn’t want this to be know. Of course we’ll never know the truth
Ah yes, pushed hard for by … not even using it themselves.
Get their dick out of your mouth before you speak. It’s unsightly.
It was the only port in MacBooks since 2016, what is it if not pushing hard 😂
Or you think that they should have changed port in 2016 in phones, upsetting all the people with already a lot of lightning cables and accessories since Lightning was ahead of competition when it came out. Yeah, that would have been a dumb idea. Glad they waited myself
That argument literally does not make sense.
Do you not think people would be upset for the MacBook only having usb-c ports? They could have had both, but since the lightning port is so bad decided it wasn’t worth it.
And if they could completely remove it on the MacBook, why do you think they wouldn’t be able to do so on the Iphone?
So what, you are glad you got sucked up onto their proprietary ecosystem even more, even though better alternative cables existed for years and years?
I also surely hope all new cables are ahead of the competition when they come out …
Nothing was proprietary bar the Lightning cable, which was better than the competition at the ime. Could they have added more ports in the MacBooks? Yeah, they fucked up. They made it right with the latest Pros. With the phone it made sense because there was already an ecosystem around lightning, it would have pissed people off as it will now a bit. Apple isn’t perfect but isn’t that uber closed walled garden either
Lmao. Typical Apple user.
🌚
Ok, I have to take issue with this. I will never be an apple user, but until USB-C came out I was honestly jealous of the lightning cable. It is reversible and consistent, two things other phone chargers never were. Sure, for data transfer it’s outdated as hell now, but it is still good enough for most uses
It is reversible and consistent
consistent in what?
Consistent in connecting /charging on first try, compared to micro usb.
Consistent in frying pins and fraying cables.
I worked cellular retail for 8 years I’ve never really seen fried pins on iPhones. The frayed cables are pretty much inevitable especially if it is apples first party cables. Shockingly I have had contamination in usbc ports though. It caused several devices of mine to no longer charge due to corrosion. Still not sure what exactly caused it but I suppose it was juice from a vape that leaked into the connector. Basically fried my laptop c ports, my iPads port and my pixel’s port. I still think the move to c was pretty necessary.
Only complaint is cables that have contaminants can easily travel between devices now.
Other than that the protocol support is all over the place.
Everyone I know who uses an iPhone has had fried pins on the cable, not necessarily on their device. No one I know personally has had any issues with USB-C.
Though both experiences are anecdotal, I think we can take this away from our conversation at least: no cable design is perfect. Lol!
Consistent in that they used the same type of charger for almost all their devices after they established it. Mini-USB outdoes them in ubiquity, but the connector is usually a piece of shit.
Mini-USB wasn’t very common. Micro-USB was common.
Right, that one. My point about micro-usb being good pretty much only because everyone uses it still stands. USB-C fixed all of my problems with it.
Lightning’s data transfer and charging are subpar, although I’m not sure if Apple is implementing PD fast charging on the new iPhone either.
They are not, unless you get the pro as far as I have seen/heard. The regular iPhone is artificially limited to USB 2.0 speeds.
It is not artificially limited. It’s using the board from last year’s Pro model. It doesn’t have a USB3 interface.
USB 2.0 vs. 3.0 data has nothing to do with USB PD charging wattage.
This is to force users to use cloud solutions and lock users in the apple ecosystem
I do not think the charging wattage is limited in the way data transfer speeds are on the non Pro Max models. Only Pro Max is getting USB3 data speeds. Atleast I have not heard Apple gimping wired charging speeds on any of the new iPhones.
The Pro still doesn’t have PD charging.
When they go portless (I’m guessing next year or 2) they don’t want people bitching that the charging is slower, so they’re not going to support wired charging that’s faster than wireless.
The same law that forces standardised cable by the EU also forces Apple to not go portless, since it needs a standardised port on the device that can be used to charge.
I didnt say it was great, I said it was good enough for a very long time. And in all honesty i think its data transfer speeds were always subpar.
My personal pet theory is that it was designed the way it was in order to make a cost-cutting measure look fancy and luxurious.
Android wins again.
Remember when Apple was on the design committee for usb c and was the first to put it in all its MacBooks and everyone bitched and whined about dongles? How the turntables.
I bet if Apple didn’t take the leap to a USB-C only laptop design most laptops from other manufacturers would still be USB-A only.
Most peripherals still use USB-A though, so I’ve never seen the advantage of having a USB-C port on my laptop. I never use it. I guess I could connect my phone, but that seems rather pointless. (Most of the charging bricks I own still have USB-A too, and I have way too many to go buy another one. It was cheaper just to buy a new cable for me phone.)
USB-C is great for external monitor connections from laptops.
Is it better than HDMI? That’s what I typically use now. (Display port on my desktop PC.)
It’s nicer for laptops because you can have power, display, and internet in one cable going to a dock. TBH I don’t see many benefits for desktops. You could daisy chain monitors and have less cables I guess.
Oh, I see now. Yes, I can see how that would be a nice benefit for using it on a laptop. I’m not even sure my monitors have USB-C inputs, but I’m probably behind the times
Intel also had them in their higher end consumer gear (eg. their high-end NUCs etc)
Remember when Apple didn’t even use the plug until the EU forced them? Get the fuck out of here with the, “they invented it” BS. Fucking pathetic cope.
And? You’re actually just accidentally pointing out how fucked up it is that they chose not to implement it on phones.
All that means is that they think certain ports have certain purposes. I don’t think that’s the win you think it is. Why not just have everything be an rj45 port then? Clearly lightning has an advantage in phone ports, as numerous others have listed.
It has the advantage of making them millions on cables and licenses. Stop pretending that USB wasn’t designed to be an all purpose bus with additionally this exact use case in mind. Which apple helped develop.
Simp harder
Open protocol wins.
Closed, narrowinded protocol lost.
Yes, Lightning was better than MicroUSB but by now I hope we can all agree, that it has overstayed its welcome
It was technically batter, but they limited it on the iPhone 5. Nobody wants to remember that, do they?
Maybe it got faster in later models, but within just two years usb-c had come out.
It was almost 4 years before the first usb c phone was released and that was only in China. No clue where you’re getting 2 years from. And even then Apple helped design the USB C standard.
Completely untrue. The Nexus 6p had USB C and it was available worldwide.
When apple changed to lightning it was in the middle of the accessory hype where there were loads of accessories using the 30-pin. People where outraged because they could no longer use any of their accessories. Apple then commited to lightning for 10 years in order to sooth the public image. This was 11 years ago, and they didn’t switch last year to cut costs, but I’d argue it only overstayed it’s welcome for a year.
This was a crucial step in Apple’s journey into becoming a trillion dollar company. Dongles.
Holy fuck I thought this was a joke
Who is this for? Looking at the Apple Store, they sell an official USB-C cable for less ($19, but you can obviously find good quality third-party cables for much less).
People who have accessories with a lightning adapter probably. Speakers, docks, etc.
Alternatively the adapter might be a cheaper option for third party cables that aren’t usb-c or usb-a on the other side of the cable.
People blindly jumping on the USB-C wagon are completely forgetting how much money people spend on accessories that still work perfectly fine…
And they can use their current phones with them, no? No one is forced to upgrade - they can easily buy another lightning-having iPhone when their current one croaks and should be safe for the next 20 years (buying used iPhones) if their stupid accessories are so gd important
People who have accessories with a lightning adapter probably. Speakers, docks, etc.
Are those common? I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a speaker with a built-in Lightning dock.
I remember these iPod docks were very common at the time of the 30-pin connector. However by the time Lightning came around wireless audio became more commonplace with Bluetooth, AirPlay and other related technologies (CarPlay, smart speakers etc.)
Not in the last couple of years, but 11 years ago when it was introduced, probably.
Airplay was already around when the 30 pin connecter was still there, and they were also popular back then. I remember using a 30 pin connecter speaker with a 30 pin to lightning connecter also because it could charge my phone at the same time.
Realistically, the market for such accessories is likely fairly limited, but that in the end also results in a higher price (no scale in the market after all).
People so engraved into the Apple Ecosystem, they only have lightning cables/devices and not a single usb-c cable
This is 100% made for uninformed people in how that insurance will make money.
I can get an usb c cable cheaper than that
We all know about monoprice it’s cool
It’s probably for accessories
Wouldn’t that be a Lightning to USB C adapter? That naming doesn’t make sense.
The usb-c is at the top in the picture so I’ll have to disagree with you
Wait doesn’t that mean it’s a Lightning to USB C if the top is USB-C and the bottom is Lightning?
No, the USB-C port becomes a Lightning port.
The way I think about adapters is that you have a Lightning cable and attach the adapter so it turns into an USB-C cable. I guess you can also think about adapting the port. Wild.
No, what you don’t understand here though is those wires are special and some are connected a little different and stuff
They never would if switched if it wasn’t forced on them. I’m glad they were forced no matter how apple spins it
would if
would if is the new would of
Wake up babe, new torture method just dropped
There is no God
They took it further than the incorrect “would of” just to fuck with us.
Boneappletea
Inb4 apple places a chip in the cable that only handshakes with apple devices?
i am happy the standard has won but tbh, i prefer the lightning type of connector (male). if only Apple standardized this instead of USB-C which is far more fragile.
but as I am not going to buy an iphone anytime soon , this is a non-news to me. :)
It’s good if you don’t need speed.
USB C cables are more fragile, but it’s designed that way so the ports are more durable. And I think having more durable ports is the right call.
Actually, I have more issues with the ports than the cable itself. that’s why I prefer type male connector like the lightning. The lightning has issue though, one of the PIN could corrode.
anyway, hope the USB type C cable is there to stay and with the new intel progress on bandwidth , it might be the case.
What’s the problem with the port? It’s considerably less prone to accumulate debris in my experience.
I used to clean at least 2-3 USB-C ports a day, 5 days a week, at my shop. I cleaned plenty of Lightning ports too, neither really is less prone than the other to dust ingress. Lightning is easier to clean though, since you don’t have to worry about accidentally snapping the center post like you do in USB-C.
No, the USB-C ports are more fragile. I owned and operated a repair shop for multiple years. USB ports, all of them except for A, are among the most fragile ports in use on electronics. Lightning ports are significantly less prone to damage. The cables snap off in the port easily, but all you need is tweezers to pull the tip out. On USB C devices the central tongue breaks off rather frequently. C is miles ahead of Micro-B though, seriously probably the worst port in use today, including proprietary ones.
Not the cable but the port. Some are stiffer (better) than others. The USB-C port of my monitor is broken/loose, same for my thinkpad t490s. But my smartphones’s USB-c port are good though, strange because they should get more mechanical stress than my monitor or thinkpad.
Lightning was a good cable. It’s just that Apple didn’t improve it any for a decade and never opened it up so it could have been a standard.
It’s smaller and more durable. It’s just slow and proprietary.
I preffered lightning too usb-c i have had several phones where the usb c connector failed but my iphone was the first phone in a long time that i replaced for reasons other than the charging port. I would have been very happy if lightning had become the standard.
Yeah, the lightning connector is really great for being a reliable connection for a long period of time. If Apple had just made it an open standard that everyone could use, it would likely be the dominant connector today. At least, so long as some improvements could be made to data transfer and charging rates.
Yeah i agree. Not that i particularly need high transfer speed on my phone its unfortunate that they wanted too wanted too keep it proprietary. But they are what they are like most companies. Anyway i hope i have better luck with my new phone than my previous experiences with the connector.
The connector sure, but the cable itself sucks donkey balls.
Lmao gtfo! Lightning COULD have been a standard if Apple wasn’t so horny about stuffing their money up their walled-garden-arse. But nah you need a license to even connect to it, not to mention manufacture it. Well tough luck and good riddance to fucking Apple proprietary cables and 50.- recharging kits.
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