I am wondering why people want/believe the iPads should be USB-C. What advantage does it give over Lightning?
The reasons NOT to change from Lightning (at least now) are:
- Lightning cable is fast enough for any transferring of data. The drive inside the iPad (and iPhones) is slow. It takes me far longer to copy 25 songs onto my iPad than it does to dump them to my external hard drive.
- There are a trillion Lightning devices already...so we're just expected to toss them all out (we already did this a few years ago when Apple switched to Lightning). People are not going to toss their accessories without some huge advantage or multiple advantages.
- Lightning is basically the same thickness/bendability as USB-C...so the cable isn't physically a pain to use.
Going back to #2...I think that's a huge turnoff for people. They will think long and hard about plunking down another $900 for an iPhone or $600-$900 for an iPad if they know their Accessories, chargers, etc. are basically worthless now.
In a way, Apple is fearful of USB-C as it does everything (and more) that Lightning can do. It seems Apple is in a catch-22 regarding deploying USB-C on iOS devices...if they deploy USB-C, Apple annoys all of its customers, loses all the licensing revenue from Lightning, annoys all its Partners (manufacturers of Lightning accessories), and gives up tens of millions of dollars in accessories (especially cables) that people believe can only be purchased at the Apple Store. You would not believe how many people go and buy a $19 Lightning cable at Apple when they do not know they can buy a $7 generic on Amazon. USB-C cables are already $8 on Amazon. If Apple does not deploy USB-C, they are looked at being very proprietary, trying to get more money from licensing and accessories, and being too closed boxed.
I want a new iPad...but I don't NEED one. If the next iPad switches to USB-C, I'll wait at least 1 more refresh...I'm not dumping all my accessories right now for an iPad I don't actually NEED. And, if the iPad is just a minimal upgrade with the addition of USB-C, I might as well buy a current iPad for a nice sale price.