Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller on NFC, Wireless Charging and the Lightning Connector

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Some of you guys ("NFC is useless", "wireless charging is stupid") are so funny. Apple always puts down what they don't include in their new stuff. And some of us just eat it up like its gospel.

I recall when iPod 1 launched and some people- myself included- found it very exciting but posted that a mobile device like that should have had an iSight camera. We were relentlessly bashed by what seemed like hundreds arguing how stupid it would be to have an iSight camera in an iPad: "why would I want to video chat with this", "why would I want someone looking up my nose... to see my nose hairs?", and on and on. 1 year later, Apple rolls out Facetime and a front-facing camera. Some of these very same people gushed about "upgrading" for... you guessed it.

I recall years of the cheerleaders finding great fault with TV potential buyers wanting 1080p playback. "until national bandwidth is upgraded...", "the chart", "I can't see the difference (so you can't either)", "file sizes will be crazy", "720p is good enough", and on and on. Then, Apple rolls out a 1080p TV and some of these same people gushed about upgrading for... you guessed it.

Here we go again. Some people would like to have those missing features in this new phone, Apple spins why they didn't build them in and what should be a legion of PAID PR reps agree by writing every fault they can find with those features. If, on the other hand, Apple would have included those features... OR Apple builds them into iPhone 5S/6, I bet some of you very same people will be gushing about the utility of them: "Now I don't have to carry my credit cards anymore (to camp out in front of Apple stores to give them my money as fast as possible)", "wireless charging is just soooo cool", "no more time-wasting plugging in the cable anymore", "no more wear & tear on the connector by having to plug it in every time for charging" etc.

Personally, I don't really care that those features were left out but there's nothing wrong with those who would have liked to have seen them sharing that they wished they were there... just like those that believed a video chat camera belonged in that iPad, or those that wanted 1080p in an TV. And they're right for wishing for features important to them. They are not wrong because some of us- or Apple- spins it as so.

 

[ryanflucas]

When I saw mention of a adapter being sold by Apple, I was hoping it was a special adapter I would leave in my existing device that basically converted my pre-existing device to the new standard. Not the other way around. I would gladly play for a tiny connector I could place in the dock connector slot, leave in there, which had a place for the new lightning cable to plug into.

 

[wovel]

What are your opinions on the change? considering that Phil Shiller said they could have made the device thinner using the same 30Pin connecter, do you think it was actually necessary to change it? Why, or why not?

That is not what he said. He said the opposite of what you said he said.

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I think Phil has good points, but he also doesn't point out how these additions would hurt. It's not as if wireless charging gets rid of regular cable charging, for example.

I am sure it is not magic, it takes up space, and costs money.

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I'm not. Apple is very comfortable in their proprietary ecosystem.

So they went with the proprietary USB 2 protocol!

 

[subsonix]

yes, just look at Samsung Galaxy SIII. It has wireless charging and it's 1% thicker and 1% heavier than iPhone 5. Apple would never compromise on weight that much (forget the brick that was iPhone 4S).

You just made up those numbers. Galaxy SIII: 133g, 8.6mm. iPhone 5: 112g, 7.6mm.

It's 18% heavier.
It's 13% thicker.

Wireless charging doesn't add any benefits right now as far as I can tell as you still need a power adapter, cable and charging pad. You also can not use the device while it's charging since it needs to be placed on the pad.

 

[wovel]

You certainly would, especially if you were syncing a large media collection or importing photos.

Not versus USB 3. With either one the bottleneck is not the link.

 

[rdlink]

Yeh cus Apple know whats best for their customers?

I suppose yes, considering the $115 Billion+ in the bank...

 

[wovel]

You just made up those numbers. Galaxy SIII: 133g, 8.6mm. iPhone 5: 112g, 7.6mm.

It's 18% heavier.
It's 13% thicker.

Wireless charging doesn't add any benefits right now as far as I can tell as you still need a power adapter, cable and charging pad.

The S3 is much closer in size to the "brick" of a 4S than to the 5. I am sure he knew that before he posted.

Dear AI,

Please make it so I don't have to see the ridiculous comments from the people I have on ignore.

 

[subsonix]

The S3 is much closer in size to the "brick" of a 4S than to the 5. I am sure he knew that before he posted.

Dear AI,

Please make it so I don't have to see the ridiculous comments from the people I have on ignore.

He compared the weight and thickness of the SIII and iPhone 5 and claimed it as 1% thicker and heaver. Math is telling me that he is wrong, it should tell you that as well. If you want to ignore that, go ahead.

 

[wovel]

Some of you guys ("NFC is useless", "wireless charging is stupid") are so funny. Apple always puts down what they don't include in their new stuff. And some of us just eat it up like its gospel.

I recall when iPod 1 launched and some people- myself included- found it very exciting but posted that a mobile device like that should have had an iSight camera. We were relentlessly bashed by what seemed like hundreds arguing how stupid it would be to have an iSight camera in an iPad: "why would I want to video chat with this", "why would I want someone looking up my nose... to see my nose hairs?", and on and on. 1 year later, Apple rolls out Facetime and a front-facing camera. Some of these very same people gushed about "upgrading" for... you guessed it.

I recall years of the cheerleaders finding great fault with TV potential buyers wanting 1080p playback. "until national bandwidth is upgraded...", "the chart", "I can't see the difference (so you can't either)", "file sizes will be crazy", "720p is good enough", and on and on. Then, Apple rolls out a 1080p TV and some of these same people gushed about upgrading for... you guessed it.

Here we go again. Some people would like to have those missing features in this new phone, Apple spins why they didn't build them in and what should be a legion of PAID PR reps agree by writing every fault they can find with those features. If, on the other hand, Apple would have included those features... OR Apple builds them into iPhone 5S/6, I bet some of you very same people will be gushing about the utility of them: "Now I don't have to carry my credit cards anymore (to camp out in front of Apple stores to give them my money as fast as possible)", "wireless charging is just soooo cool", "no more time-wasting plugging in the cable anymore", "no more wear & tear on the connector by having to plug it in every time for charging" etc.

Personally, I don't really care that those features were left out but there's nothing wrong with those who would have liked to have seen them sharing that they wished they were there... just like those that believed a video chat camera belonged in that iPad, or those that wanted 1080p in an TV. And they're right for wishing for features important to them. They are not wrong because some of us- or Apple- spins it as so.

Make the case for real then. In the next 12 months how many of the 50 million+ iPhone 5 users will go to a public place with either feature. No one here is saying they are bad ideas. There is no infrastructure to support either one. Sure you can point to a couple of very limited tests. So what?

Apple will launch NFC when they can bring several large retailers on stage to explain how it will work for payments in their store when it is launched. What is the point before then?

The same goes for wireless charging. It iss gimmick today. Call me when it is in every coffee house in the world.

 

[KevinN206]

Siri could be called gimmicky except for the fact that it actually has value. It is useful. It's not perfect but then it's pretty new tech. I expect the utility value of Siri will grow over time - the same can't be said for wireless charging.

Wireless charging doesn't really DO anything! I mean, to what extent does charging something by placing it on a flat surface really improve things compared to plugging it in? And there are obvious downsides: a) the mat takes up more space, b) the internal components add mass to the device, c) wireless charging is slow and d) you can't pick up and use the device without taking it off of charge which you can do with a cable.

You save a fraction of a second plugging in the device, sure, but then there are so many downsides the whole thing is just silly.

Now, when we have true wireless charging - the ability for a device to charge when within a few feet of a charging point - now THAT would be useful. But for small items that may never happen and, if it does, it'll be a few years from now.

NFC is marginally more useful and I'd have liked to see it included on the off chance that it came in handy but it was never a deal breaker for me. It would have been one of those 'good to have' bits that I would more than likely never use.

Inductive (wireless) charging would be awesome for a car holder. Basically, with a Lumia 920 having a 4.5" screen, I can finally replace my dedicated GPS. Since the inductive charging follows the Qi standard, any vendor can make a phone holder for the Lumia 820/920 and it'll work.

 

[wovel]

He compared the weight and thickness of the SIII and iPhone 5 and claimed it as 1% thicker and heaver. Math is telling me that he is wrong, it should tell you that as well. If you want to ignore that, go ahead.

Not sure you understood my post.

 

[subsonix]

Not sure you understood my post.

Ah, now I see. I completely missed what went on there. Sorry.

 

[twoodcc]

i just wish it was USB3 or thunderbolt

 

[HVDynamo]

So are we stuck with usb 2.0 for another 9 years?

No, The original Dock connector supported both firewire and USB. It is entirely possible to just change the internal chip to support USB 3 without having to change the connector, The devices will just talk to each other to determine what is supported and connect at the highest speed available to both parties.

EDIT: My bad, USB 3 requires additional connections, they could still possibly squeeze it in the same connector, but only if they dropped USB 2.0 support entirely.

 

[farawaybrothers]

While watching the keynote I actually thought they would mention wirelessly charging your iOS device lol

 

[TheMarc]

This is why wireless induction charging mats make no sense. You still have to plug in the mat (and carry it around), plus the mat takes up more desktop real estate than the phone and a regular charging cord (the Lightning Connector or the legacy Dock Connector cord).

And what about the iPad? Would you need an even larger charging mat?


I'm not so sure about the 12-megapixel camera.

We're probably approaching the point of minimal additional benefit. Cellphone camera lenses are very small and 8-megapixels is probably around the limits of resolving power for such a small lens and sensor. Even if you increased the pixel count, you might not be capturing more detail because of the resolving power (which is finite). Furthermore, more pixels risk increasing digital image noise.

More beneficial would be improved sensors, especially in regard to low-light sensitivity as well as power consumption.

Also, more megapixels mean larger file sizes, which translates to longer network transfer times.

I'm not sure what you think wireless charging is, but it doesn't allow you to charge the device from anywhere in the house or have it charge while you walk around with it. Wireless charging means putting your device on a charging mat that's plugged into a power outlet. It's wireless but not contactless.

If you're using a cable you actually can use the device while it charges. A charging mat, however, doesn't allow you to do that. It's appreciably worse as a charging solution in almost all ways. It's fancy and high tech but it serves almost no useful purpose.

As for NFC, fine. It's a nice bit of tech. Would have liked it but it's not a big deal.

12 megapixels? Why? How large due you want your photos to be? I'm always perplexed when people tout megapixels as a big deal. I thought we'd got passed that.

About the camera, you're right, a 12MP one doesn't give much advantage (if any, if not any disadvantages) but I still think it could make its way into the 5S as it would make it seem as in improvement and as I'm sure people will look at then newer phones with 12MP cameras (probably not as good as ip5's) and think it's an iphone flaw not to have it.

About wireless charging, I guess I was wrong. I did think you could just plug something into the wall and that thing would send energy to the battery, recharging it! But I guess if it's still with those mat, then it's less practical than charging it the way it's done now.
Why would anyone want that, then?

 

[turtlez]

Why are people whining about no USB3? I didn't realise people even use the data cables to transfer stuff between their phone and computer anymore.

 

[slrandall]

So, why not USB 3?

Because, as was stated in the demo, it's sufficiently fast to sync wirelessly now. If they add wireless charging (disappointed that he knocked that one), I'd be fine if they removed the bottom port altogether.

I don't care about NFC so much, but man, wireless charging would be awesome.

The more I think about it, the more I hope they include that in the next (new/5S/6/whatever) phone and kill the dock connector. But I doubt it.

 

[terraphantm]

Make the case for real then. In the next 12 months how many of the 50 million+ iPhone 5 users will go to a public place with either feature. No one here is saying they are bad ideas. There is no infrastructure to support either one. Sure you can point to a couple of very limited tests. So what?

Apple will launch NFC when they can bring several large retailers on stage to explain how it will work for payments in their store when it is launched. What is the point before then?

I see NFC payments accepted almost everywhere I shop. Apple including the feature would undoubtedly make it even more main stream.

The only reason Apple would need to "get retailers on stage" would be if Apple wanted to introduce its own competing (and proprietary) protocol.

 

[doelcm82]

THIS SUCKS.

I don't mind change, I get it you need change....but for virtually no new features - not faster...?

I have 3 iphone/ipad chargers around the house. I can probably make do with just using 1 of them for this new iphone 5. I have a bose sounddock....will need to get another one for that...
and car charges - 1 for each car - need to get two for that...

$120 just for adapters??????

also with that the inability to go to my friends house and be compatible with their home set-ups for charging (I don't know about you guys - but im always glad everyone I know use apple products because they all have the same plug!)

I'll wait on this generation until the new plugs (lightning and the stupid magsafe 2) are more widely adopted.

too bad, I would love LTE and the A6

I won't spend $120 for adapters. Apple can't make me, and you can't make me think it's a reason for not upgrading. I may buy one to give myself some flexibility, until third-party manufacturers make them cheap and plentiful.

 

[teknikal90]

maybe im just bitter cause i just got these bose speakers for the bedroom and the iphone chargers/fm radio thingies for the two cars....less than a month ago haha.

oh well.

 

[hamkor04]

So are we stuck with usb 2.0 for another 9 years?

i was waiting at least some reasonable data transfer speed improvement. or is it happened?

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Obviously considering the amount of devices and ecosystem around the 30-pin dock connector. It is like starting form scratch.

yep. Honestly I am really glad apple did this change.

Reason why is they screwed over all those devices in the ecosystems which means it screws over the manufactures as well. I can see the manufactures taking this as a chance to say screw Apple's proprietary connector crap and go with a more open standard that works will all the OS. Why lock out over 50% of the market. Before hand yeah it was going to hurt making the change but now you have to start over any how. Might as well go over to an open standard.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Make the case for real then. In the next 12 months how many of the 50 million+ iPhone 5 users will go to a public place with either feature. No one here is saying they are bad ideas.

Are we reading the same thread? See #167, 168, 170, etc. How can "Wireless charging is stupid" and your comment I bolded above be compatible?

There is no infrastructure to support either one

Seriously? See post #194 or #73 as two counters within just this thread alone?

Or maybe your comments were meant to further illustrate the point I made in #176???

Nothing against you as a person or anything but if there is going to be 50 million people with iPhone 5 in the next year and all those iPhones had these features desired by some now, these features would become mainstream benefits for many more than 50 million people. iPhone wireless charging stations would pop up like wifi or recharge stations at airports, hotels, etc. Pay with NFC and wirelessly charge your iDevice while eating at your favorite restaurant or having that cup of coffee... no cables, power bricks, or credit cards needed.

To me the many arguments that NFC pay options needs to be everywhere is a mirror of "until the national Internet bandwidth is expanded..." argument against a 1080p version of Apple TV. Build it in and let the world catch up with the capabilities. Wait until the world is ready first and nothing really new gets built in. Much of the world doesn't have LTE either but no one is arguing against iPhone 5 having that technology built in. Not a single person (yet) has "Lightning" connector accessories but that didn't stop Apple from building in THAT hardware.

 

[Marrakas]

Anyone know if this new connector is gonna be magnetic, like the charge plugs for macbooks?