DigiTimes Vaguely Says 2019 iPhones Are 'Likely to Support USB-C'

[Icy1007]

Lightning isn’t going away anytime soon. It is in Apple’s favor to NOT switch to USB-C on iPhones/iPads. They wouldn’t be able to police the things people attach to their iOS devices as easily if they switched.

Also, I still sync my phone with iTunes on my Mac and will never use iCloud for backups. iTunes is so much faster if I need to recover a phone.

 

[Abazigal]

Ah, you mean like Apple being one of the first laptops with USB-C. And didn't they pioneer the adoption of WiFi in the early 2000's?

This just goes to show that Apple will adopt open standards when it's to their advantage, and they will just as readily come up with their own closed standard if need be.

USB-C makes sense on a laptop when you are talking about transferring huge amounts of data very quickly, and it allows you to connect a hub to your computer and supply power all with just one cable (something which not even thunderbolt 2 could do).

On a smartphone, the benefits to be gained from USB-C are largely irrelevant. Lightning is already reversible, smaller, more resilient, plus you don't really need thunderbolt 3 transfer speeds on a device which largely gets its data from wireless means anyways.

This is a way smaller leap in progress than from 30-pin to lightning. The only real benefit is that you can use the same charging cable for everything. Nice, but hardly worth throwing out 6-7 years of progress for lightning, IMO.

 

[hybroid]

No chance. It'll be lightning to USB-C instead of USB-A cables probably. They're not doing away with lightning connector on devices (I hope!).

 

[AnthonyHarris]

Every iPhone after the 6 was thicker than the last.

Indeed, and now looking at my lightning and USB C connectors side by side, the size difference is so small that the thickness of the devices probably won't have to change if they did adopt it. The USB C is the same depth (insertion) as a lightning connector, obviously wider, but only maybe .2mm thicker. (I can't be bothered to find my digital callipers or search google so using my jewellers eye).

Maybe they will bring it over. It would make for better consistency, I guess.

 

[Wanted797]

This is likely just the corn changing from USB-A to USB-C.

I think Apple will ditch the lighting connector entirely before going to USB-C

 

[BiggAW]

They're not putting USB-C on the phone, and changing the charger is quite likely. What if this also means support for USB 3.1 in the phone's controller or something? I know that's technically separate from the USB-C connector, but they seem to end up packaged together and referred to as USB-C in many cases. Faster charging, faster data transfer over USB, and a USB-C charger, all while keeping the Lightning port.

 

[rjohnstone]

Lightning isn’t going away anytime soon. It is in Apple’s favor to NOT switch to USB-C on iPhones/iPads. They wouldn’t be able to police the things people attach to their iOS devices as easily if they switched.

That's not an issue for Apple since they regulate what works with an iPhone via software.
Lightning adapters for pretty much every USB format already exist, which means you can already physically connect to darn near whatever you want.
Whether it works or not is all in the iOS software.

 

[Appleaker]

The number of people that are interpreting this as a move from Lightning to USB-C is ridiculous. That is not what it’s saying.

 

[lordofthereef]

If Apple gives us USB C (port instead of lightning) I will buy one if nothing else is changed for two reasons:

1. I believe this strongly that standards are a very good thing. I don't feel we should have had a lightning cable for as long as we did considering USB C is ven on the macbook.

2. I can FINALLY have one cable for both devices. Tobe fair, I am doing a lot more wireless charging now. And that was an awesome addition (and even better that it utilizes an inudstry standard!) But for the car, this will be great. An incredibly user friednly move.

I honestly have no real desire otherwise t upgrade. My X does everything I need, and I did have some remorse dumping my 6s plus, which needed a new battery but otherwise worked flawlessly. I wouldn't NEED the phone with C either, but Apple would asbolutely get my support in the form of a purchase. These are the sorts of things they should continue to strive to incliude.