Apple Readying Miniaturized Dock Connector for Future iPhones?

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Wireless charging?

Maybe kinetic charging like certain watches?

mKizzo said:

I thought the future is clear on this: wireless sync

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Airplay is great, and so is wireless sync......but what about charging?

My toothbrush now uses a conductve charging mech in which i just lay it in a cradle without connections, and it just charges....
I cant imagine anything preventing the same type of conductive technology n the iPhone.

At that point, just use some sealant for the earphe jack and mic, and you have a seamless waterproof iPhone)))) 2 glass panels and steel band, completely sealed off ))

Lack of backwards accessory compatibility—even if adapters are available—is a problem.

And one that’s going to happen someday anyway—we can’t expect the same connector forever. That connector has been around since April 2003... nine years!

So whatever replaces it (to last another 9 years I hope)... small is good!

FWIW, I thought I read somewhere that Thunderbolt is not currently possible on iPad/iPhone because of the lack of PCI Express architecture. Don’t quote me...

Still, Thunderbolt can adapt to many purposes, and Apple might offer dock cables with Thunderbolt on the computer end. (I don’t see that being standard, though: USB will remain the standard bundled cable-end for now because everyone has it.) Anyway, while Thunderbolt speed would be nice for especially large syncs/restores, I find that in more ordinary use syncs are smaller, and therefore pretty fast (after iOS 5 especially) over USB. And of course it can all be wireless now.

Shrink said:

Question:

Is there a point of diminishing returns with "thinner and smaller"??

No sarcasm...serious question.

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I think the article is right and this is more about "more with less"

oakland6980 said:

How to charge?

nductive charging i guess. but i dont want to have to use a special case to charge. So i guess its up to Apple to make a inductive chargeable back plate.

any other ideas?

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Just look at the palm pre. That phone was designed to be charged inductively without any attachments.

It's gonna come with a Matt you just set the phone on. iPhone 5 is gonna e epic. QuaD Core, 12 megapixel camera, NFC, LTE, inductive charging

The problem most have not thought about is if Apple does ONLY make it a charge only connection then JB-ing will be almost impossible. That would make for a different issue. I would love to see a Mag-Safe small connection but hope they keep it data transferable and not only a charge only connection.

Just my 2¢. But something to think about.

ixodes said:

It's a few years overdue, better late than never. A big ugly relic finally redesigned. I knew Apple had the confidence to pull it off.

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It's not really big and ugly. The new ones are very thin, especially compared to the old ones that have clips.

Had iDevices since iPod Day 1. I think this was the original, but I'm not sure: I remember no other connector. It's about time to change, and if they could make a micro connector, I'd be happy. Bring on better design.

mrfoof82 said:

The dock connector is used to charge the phone as well. You can't wirelessly sync a device that has no battery power. Additionally, wireless sync activates by default when it detects a power input.

It's not just a "dock" connector, it's power.

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Unless Apple adopted inductive charging.

Lesser Evets said:

Had iDevices since iPod Day 1. I think this was the original, but I'm not sure: I remember no other connector. It's about time to change, and if they could make a micro connector, I'd be happy. Bring on better design.

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Well, they did have the FireWire connectors that can only charge newer devices but cannot sync. That was actually a lot better because you got FireWire speed, not stupid USB.

canucksfan88 said:

how does on charge?

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I mean, they'll still ship a cable that does that ...

cmwade77 said:

Let's move them to the MicroUSB standard that most phones are now using, even here in the U.S.

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Yes please. It won't happen because Apple wants to keep its accessory ecosystem and be able to keep the $ rolling in, but wouldn't it be nice...

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faroZ06 said:

Add Firewire support!

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Get back 10 years!

"We know that ever since the original iPhone came to be a very enormous problem has struck the minds of consumers. People put the dock a phone uses as the very first perspective. So what have we done to fix it? Well. We've gotten rid of the dock! And who wants a dock? You have to plug them in and take them out, yuke! So we're going to use something that we are all born to acknowledge. Gravity. With iPhone 5 you can just.. *Awkward positioning*.. Just put the device right down on this rubber pad. Not only does this pad charge the device from its four well concealed charging points, but it also starts an automatic sync with your Macintosh or Windows PC. It's beautiful."

A little scenario I thought of.

Grimace said:

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That and the European standard of micro USB plug for all smartphones (simplifying power chargers) would imply a shift away from 30pin dock connectors.

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Apple already compelled with that:

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MD099?mco=MjU5MjAwODM

There really needs to be an update to the way we charge and transfer data to and from our iPhones. It would be awesome if Apple added Thunderbolt support this summer!

If Apple applies themselves, the new connector can be quite sleek, nice looking & still proprietary.

For the love of god, they aren't going to add Thunderbolt any time soon. The flash memory maxes itself out on a USB cable. Thunderbolt is overkill.

Bring on a MiniMagDock.

longofest said:

Yes please. It won't happen because Apple wants to keep its accessory ecosystem and be able to keep the $ rolling in, but wouldn't it be nice...

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Apple could just charge for the works with Airplay DRM chip that still all the accessory maker would need to buy with no direct Audio/Video lines.

With wireless sync and future wireless charging abilities built-in, you'd think Apple would do away with the 30pin dock all together.

faroZ06 said:

Well, they did have the FireWire connectors that can only charge newer devices but cannot sync. That was actually a lot better because you got FireWire speed, not stupid USB.

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That's right! I forgot about the old FW. And you are right: I remember the joy of transfer with FW compared to the next phase of connector which was so slow. However, I switched from the "classic" form to the Nano soon after and then it wasn't a problem.

If someone has 20GB+ to transfer with these USB connectors, it must be hellish. Since the new style connector I tend to use iDevices with the minimum storage... and now I remember one reason why.

pgiguere1 said:

Get back 10 years!

Image

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There it is. That brings back good memories. I kinda miss the old iPod. Those hard drives tended to freeze and thus die after exactly 2 years. Had 3 that did the freeze and I never got another with mechanical drive inside.

OrangeSVTguy said:

With wireless sync and future wireless charging abilities built-in, you'd think Apple would do away with the 30pin dock all together.

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That would be excellent for the lower end devices like Shuffle and Nano and possibly the smaller iPT/iPhones, but I think wireless would be a hassle for larger devices. I't the perfect idea for Shuffle and Nano, though. It would be magical to wander the house and have the devices update without ever needing prompt or plug.

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I'm very excited about a new direction with charging and cables. I'd like to see some way to charge by traditional means so that products like the juice pack can continue to be produced. Also, I'm going to be kinda annoyed if every accessory requires bluetooth unless they double or tripple the battery life.

It's easy for someone like me to welcome the dock change with open arms...but Im sure many folks have spent some good coin on doc-station devices.

Anyways, given the current speaker design and how minimal the doc is...how much space could they really save?