Other The iPhone USB-C/Thunderbolt Thread: what works?

[Dust-by-Monday]

Has anyone mentioned how the apple usb c to 3.5mm adapter is louder than the lightning one? It’s the first thing I noticed. I’ve always had US adapters too

 

[edfoo]

Has anyone mentioned how the apple usb c to 3.5mm adapter is louder than the lightning one? It’s the first thing I noticed. I’ve always had US adapters too

How do you manage to compare both USB-C to 3.5mm adapter and Lightning to 3.5mm adapter from the same iPhone? Or are you comparing from two different iPhones and maybe there is inconsistency in the volume setting between those iPhones?

 

[DeanL]

Renamed the thread to include Thunderbolt, since Thunderbolt hubs work and enable fonctionalities unavailable with USB-C hubs.

TLDR: I plugged seven devices including a display and three drives to the iPhone. Woah.

Connection Tree

iPhone 15 Pro Max​

OWC Thunderbolt Hub​

Dell U2720Q USB-C Display​

Yubikey​

USB-C Drive​

Gigabit Ethernet Adapter​

USB-C NVMe Drive​

USB 3.2 SATA Drive​

So today I decided to find the limits of the USB-C port on the iPhone 15 Pro Max and in the process made interesting discoveries.

Why I tried that
I was looking for a USB-C hub that has downstream USB-C ports that carry USB-C DisplayPort Alt Mode.

Let me explain: save for a few niche exceptions, you can’t plug a USB-C display to a USB-C hub because the hub won’t push down the DP signal.

Therefore this connection tree wouldn’t work:
iPhone

USB-C Hub​

USB-C Display​

Only the following would work:
iPhone

USB-C Display​

USB-C Hub​

However, it turns out that with Thunderbolt hubs (or at least the OWC one), it IS possible to connect a USB-C display to the hub! The hub passes down the DisplayPort signal.

But that’s not it: as the diagram shows, I was able to also connect accessories to the hub of the USB-C display.

There isn’t a tool on iOS to do USB-C speed tests, so what I did is record a AppleProRes video to my NVMe drive while keeping everything else plugged.

During the recording, I did an internet speed test and plugged another drive to see how it would affect the quality of the recording (if the bandwidth decreases, the recording will drop frames)

The only time it dropped frames was when I plugged another drive. The internet speed test was half what I usually get, pointing out to the bandwidth limits of USB 3.2 Gen 2.

Quite spectacular that the iPhone can handle recording ProRes through a Thunderbolt hub that has a display and several drives connected!

Full thread here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/thunderbolt-hubs-work-on-iphone-15-pro-max.2409957/

 

[lienmar]

will this cable work to watch (youtube, netflix, apple tv, ..) from my iphone 15pm to my TV?

is any other better option (reliability, res, image quality, etc) ?

would 4.5 m length affect quality or anything else ?

thx!

uni USB C to HDMI Cable (4K@60Hz), 4.5m USB Type C to HDMI 2.0 Cable (Thunderbolt 4/3 compatible) for MacBook Pro, iPhone 15 Series, MacBook Air, iPad Pro, Surface Book, Samsung etc.

uni USB C to HDMI Cable (4K@60Hz), 4.5m USB Type C to HDMI 2.0 Cable (Thunderbolt 4/3 compatible) for MacBook Pro, iPhone 15 Series, MacBook Air, iPad Pro, Surface Book, Samsung etc.

amzn.eu

 

[rsday75]

will this cable work to watch (youtube, netflix, apple tv, ..) from my iphone 15pm to my TV?

is any other better option (reliability, res, image quality, etc) ?

would 4.5 m length affect quality or anything else ?

thx!

uni USB C to HDMI Cable (4K@60Hz), 4.5m USB Type C to HDMI 2.0 Cable (Thunderbolt 4/3 compatible) for MacBook Pro, iPhone 15 Series, MacBook Air, iPad Pro, Surface Book, Samsung etc.

uni USB C to HDMI Cable (4K@60Hz), 4.5m USB Type C to HDMI 2.0 Cable (Thunderbolt 4/3 compatible) for MacBook Pro, iPhone 15 Series, MacBook Air, iPad Pro, Surface Book, Samsung etc.

amzn.eu

I found that one to not work reliably at all.
The Anker 518 adapter seemed to work the best out of several I tried.

 

[ananniamul]

Starting a thread to centralise all our USB-C and Thunderbolt findings. This thread is a Wiki. When adding a new item, please put in bracket the make and model of the accessory you are confirming, that way if it does not work for other people, we can narrow down it to being a specific model.
On the Thunderbolt side of things, it seems that only certain Thunderbolt 4 devices may work, but this needs more investivation.

Apple Support Articles on USB-C iPhones​

About the USB-C to Lightning Adapter
Charge and connect with the USB-C connector on your iPhone 15

USB-C and Thunderbolt Accessory Types Confirmed to be Supported​

iPhone 15 Pro/Max​

USB-C​

• Ethernet Adapters (Belkin confimed)
• Security Keys (Yubikey NFC USB-C & OnlyKey [Current Models] confirmed)
• Displays through DisplayPort USB-C Alt Mode, including the integrated USB hubs (DELL U2720Q confirmed)
• USB Drives
• External SSDs (SAMSUNG T7 SSD confirmed)
• Generic USC-C Smart Card readers for use with DoD CACs, PIVs, etc. Appropriate middleware Root certificates still required (confirmed using SCR-3500 on token restricted websites).
• Keyboards (Apple Magic Keyboard Confirmed)
• Canon EOS R for photo transfer to Mac
• USB-C Hubs (NOVOO hub confirmed)
• DACs (Shure SHA900-US confirmed with charging mode disabled)

Thunderbolt​

• Hubs, apparently. The OWC Thunderbolt Hub is confirmed to work.

iPhone 15 /Plus​

USB-C​

• Ethernet Adapters (Belkin confimed)
• Displays through DisplayPort USB-C Alt Mode (presumably), Anker USB-C to HDMI adapter and HP Elite USB-C Dock G3 confirmed)
• USB-C docks (HP Elite USB-C Dock G3 and HP USB-C Dock G5 confirmed)
• USB Drives (and card readers)
• External SSDs
• Keyboards (generic USB-A keyboard confirmed with adapter)
• USB-C Hubs (NOVOO hub confirmed)

Thunderbolt​

USB-C Accessory Types Confirmed to be Unsupported​

iPhone 15 Pro/Max​

USB-C​

• Webcams (Logitech Brio confirmed)
• Trackpads (weirdly recognised as a trackpad menu appears in settings, but not usable)
• OnlyKey [Legacy Models] (purchased prior to Nov 2018)

Thunderbolt​

iPhone 15 /Plus​

USB-C​

• Anything requiring USB 3.0 and above

Thunderbolt​

Digital camera RAW formats supported by iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma​

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213775

The iPhone has always used a proprietary Lightning connector for charging and data transfer. However, with the release of the iPhone 11 Pro in 2019, Apple also began offering an optional USB-C to Lightning cable. This has led some people to wonder if the iPhone is now compatible with USB-C and Thunderbolt.

 

[d5aqoëp]

iPhone 15 Pro Max:
Yottamaster USB-C 3.2 Gen 2x2 20Gbps Nvme enclosure (Asmedia ASM2364 controller) -> Does not work
Orico USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps Nvme enclosure (Realtek RTL9220 controller) -> Does not work

But above 2 enclosures work perfectly on my 2022 iPad Pro.
I am using 17.2 Beta 3 but unsure if they worked on 17.1.1 as I got the enclosures just today.

 

[DeanL]

iPhone 15 Pro Max:
Yottamaster USB-C 3.2 Gen 2x2 20Gbps Nvme enclosure (Asmedia ASM2364 controller) -> Does not work
Orico USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps Nvme enclosure (Realtek RTL9220 controller) -> Does not work

But above 2 enclosures work perfectly on my 2022 iPad Pro.
I am using 17.2 Beta 3 but unsure if they worked on 17.1.1 as I got the enclosures just today.

Could be because they require more than 4.5 watts of power

 

[kodaker]

I updated from a Iphone 13 pro max to a iPhone 15 Pro max and I have three genuine Apple lightning adapters that I would like to use on the new phone. I bought an Apple USB-C to lightning adapter and none of the older adapter cables work. It just says Accessory not Supported. The cables are USB to lightning, HDMI to lightning, and SD card to lightning. I contacted Apple support and they said Sorry. On Apple's web site the write up says the adapter cable allows charging, data and audio, but it doesn't.

 

[d5aqoëp]

Any Dongle (with Realtek chipset) Type-C to 2.5G Ethernet works very well on 15 Pro

 

[RigSatMe]

ACASIS 40Gbps USB-C/Thunderbolt Enclosure - recognized, however, transfer files partially with disconnection

 

[Lex404]

Sony ZX 707 works as USB DAC on 15 Pro

Not going to use it like this, but I was curious haha

 

[DeanL]

ACASIS 40Gbps USB-C/Thunderbolt Enclosure - recognized, however, transfer files partially with disconnection

Could be due to power draw. Do you know what's the power requirement?

 

[RigSatMe]

I guess it's related with iPhone 15 Pro Max USB-C port. The one doesn't fully support Thunderbolt 4/USB 4.
The one works fine with iPad Pro, MacBooks, iMacs. Will check the power requirement and let u know.