Many of you will remember the day it was presented the iPhone 5 with its new connector, a decision that some of us had a hard time assimilating due to the large number of accessories we already had with the old 30-pin port. However, technology advances and it seemed necessary to make a decision as drastic as betting on a reversible digital connector and that, a priori, was the eighth wonder in connectors for mobile devices. This is how Lightning was born.
It is true that the connector Lightning is far superior to microUSB, not in prices but in functionalities. Unfortunately, to this day there are still very few accessories that really take advantage of their features and those that do are terribly expensive due to the Made for iPhone license. That license also existed with the 30-pin dock, however, the range of accessories available was much larger and cheaper.
The chip that incorporates Lightning and that is responsible for ensuring the accessory's certificate may have something to do with it. Technology may have decided get rid of the cables for good and bet on the wireless either using WiFi, Bluetooth or NFC but in any case, Lightning is wasted and after the appearance of USB Type C, perhaps we are facing the advance of an announced death.
It is now when many of you will think "the visionary of Apple has arrived, someone please hire this man." No, I am not a visionary (although I would like to) but you have to surrender to the evidence and what Apple was looking for with the Lightning connector, now it can get with the USB Type-C, a connector that the new 2015 MacBook already includes and to which the Cupertino company seems to have given up, even though that means sacrifice something as distinctive as the MagSafe. This is what we can read about USB Type C on Apple's website:
Incredibly portable. And with a spectacular port.
Creating a laptop as thin and light as the new MacBook forced us to seek maximum efficiency in every detail, including the way you connect peripherals or plug it into power. That is why we have collaborated in the development of a new universal standard that combines in a single port all the basic functions you need. With the new USB-C port you can charge the laptop, transfer data over USB 3 at full speed through peripherals and connect HDMI, VGA and DisplayPort devices. It is also reversible and occupies a third of the current USB.
Does it sound familiar to you? It is a description very similar to the one that was written about Lightning in its day, only in this case, USB-C is even better.
Several years something is changing at Apple, I don't know if it's better or worse, but I think the Lightning port has two long news programs left, but two. It may not be for the iPhone 6s but the transition to USB Type C is evident and it is more than likely that we will see it in future iOS devices. To this day, there are still many rumors that the iPad Pro could come with USB C as well as other news worth mentioning.
The advantages for us are obvious and although it is now an unpopular connection, with the passage of time it will become cheaper and we can buy cables for very little money and best of all, we can use them for any other device. Will Apple definitely give up on a universal connection? I bet you do, y'all?
What does not fit me ... is that if Apple every time wants to make a thinner iPhone, and considering that its design line does not support "elevations" in the terminal, it gives me that USB-C does not have space to be integrated ... Unless Apple stops reducing the width of the terminal to integrate this port ...
However, your theory makes a lot of sense, although I repeat ... it collides with Apple's fondness for thinning the iPhone and having a smooth and homogeneous design.
It is true that the issue of thickness is the main culprit that the arrival of USB C may be delayed but it is not so much difference and I do not think that the iPhone continues to lose weight at the same rate that it has been doing. The battery does not give more of itself and the surface is what it is. Fattening it a few millimeters would allow the arrival of USB-C and a few more mAh of capacity. I already left my opinion on the subject in https://www.actualidadiphone.com/hubieses-comprado-un-iphone-6-mas-grueso-pero-con-mas-bateria/
A greeting!
I'm with you Nacho ... I hope they do that, since even so much finesse ends up being uncomfortable for their grip lol.
I repeat, very good theory, and I hope so ... it would be a huge advance in compatibility with all types of devices, and the standardization of a charger at last.
A greeting!
The meaning of this line change at Apple is due to nothing more than a global imposition, largely led by Europe, which advocates a universal system.
As if we had no other problems in our lives, four privileged minds see a problem in which there are devices that use different connection systems for their smartphones, tablets, computers ... and they go online to prohibit any system other than the one they designate, which in this case is usb c.
Faced with this particular market, Apple has no choice but to incorporate this new system as it would close the doors of a wide market that it does not want to do without.
As they say: we have run into the church! ... and these clergy instead of dedicating themselves to their masses ...
Conclusion a great connector to the trash to use what so far fails more than a shotgun of fairs. Hopefully this one gets a little better.
Honestly ... I don't think that's the reason for two reasons
1. Because that imposition has been going on for a long time, and Apple has not taken a step back in its decision to continue with its connector ... what's more, I took out the lightning in its day
2. The USB-C has just come out, and much remains to be put as "standard" with the microusb being in 90% of devices
Another thing, as Nacho says, is that Apple directs the change to that port due to the possibilities that it brings ... which is the data speed, the standardization (finally with a good reason, since the microusb was NOT) and compatibility with new products, such as this year's MacBook.
Whatever they do, their reason of great weight will have in all aspects ... so welcome is the change if necessary 😉
Apple has not stepped back as you say ... and now if ??? Why??? By change of mentality in Apple ???
Apple in all its history has only stepped back out of obligation and after tough resistance.
The micro usb did not meet the standardization ??? Or did you mean that it did not comply with what was requested in relation to speed, quality, uses ... ??? More standardized than that all devices use it except iOS, I don't know how it could be.
One detail is that in Apple's words the collaboration of Apple in its manufacture and development is sensed or slightly indicated, thus giving similar possibilities to the current one but complying with the future standardization of connection and ports.
If after fighting, even if Apple has the power to veto certain criteria, sooner or later you lose the battle, there will come a time in which either you change the line and adapt the decision to make as much as possible or you hit the wall with your head and stay with what the rest decide. That's something Apple would never allow.
Despite decisions like these, even if they have been in the pipeline for a long time, they are not made from one day to the next. They cannot suddenly say "now you do it that way because I say so." Many decisions take many years of conversations to reach an agreement with the main manufacturers (let's not forget that they are private companies) and once several years of deadline have been postulated for it to be mandatory.
Finally, it seems that everyone expects Apole to change its mentality, its way of seeing its products, its line of work ... I certainly do not and it is not clear to me when, year after year, the news will again predict the change of the company from the Apple.
The only thing that the history of Apple tells us is that it changes by legal imposition and not by staying current, and that it be that way forever.