You just know they're going to move to USB-C next year, finally. USB 2 over lightning is just absurd in this day and age
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iPhone 14 Pro's Lightning Connector Still Limited to USB 2.0 Speeds Despite Large 48MP ProRAW Photos
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Who needs needs faster USB when you have wifi? What year is it? Next year you'll have wifi 7 and this will be irrelevant. If you want to use an old fashioned cable, buy an android phone.
Planned obsolescence. Apple will upgrade the lightning port to 5 gbps USB-c and claim you can transfer data 10 times faster than iPhone 14 Pro.
When I see people wasting so much energy complaining about the 60Hz screens on the 14, they really should spend it complaining about the USB 2.0 Speed of this port, instead. I can't think of any reason why lightning on the iPhone is not allowing at least USB 3.0 at this point, especially as this affects both the 14, and the 14 Pro. The year is 2022.
iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models feature an upgraded rear camera system that can shoot 48-megapixel ProRAW photos, which retain more detail in the image file for more editing flexibility. 48-megapixel ProRAW photos are very large files that clock in at around 75MB each, according to Apple, and sometimes even larger.
Despite these very large image sizes, we have confirmed that the Lightning connector on the iPhone 14 Pro models remains limited to USB 2.0 speeds of up to 480 Mbps like previous models, meaning that transferring full-resolution 48-megapixel ProRAW photos to a Mac or other device with a Lightning cable will take a long time.
Apple recommends using iCloud Photos to access ProRAW files in full resolution on a Mac or other Apple devices, or to transfer the photos off an iPhone wirelessly by using AirDrop, but the Lightning connector certainly remains a bottleneck.
Back in 2015, the original iPad Pro's Lightning connector supported USB 3.0, which was capable of up to 5 Gbps speeds based on the spec at the time, but Apple has evidently chosen not to move in this direction for the iPhone. Fortunately, rumors suggest that all iPhone 15 models will be equipped with a USB-C port instead of Lightning, which should result in speeds up to 10 Gbps or even up to 40 Gbps with Thunderbolt 3 support.
Article Link: iPhone 14 Pro's Lightning Connector Still Limited to USB 2.0 Speeds Despite Large 48MP ProRAW Photos
Yeah, as far as charging I don't really care whether it's Lightning or USB-C -- but file transfer seems like a massive problem for those using the cameras to their full potential. I'm surprised they haven't moved to USB-C already for the pro iPhones.
It usually works for me, on my Wi-Fi. But outside of the office? Yes it can be a crapshoot.
Airdrop is good enough for me too, but you have to recognize that pro users are pushing much larger files and much more frequently.
Was honestly just thinking the other day about how absurd it is that iPhone's are still using USB 2.0 in 2022...
How absurd you ask?
The ORIGINAL iPod, released in 2001(!) used FireWire, which transferred data at, what was at the time, a blistering 400Mbps. The iPhone 14 Pro in 2022, 21 years later, uses USB 2.0, which has a theoretical transfer rate of... 480Mbps... only 20% faster than the FireWire used in the iPod... except it gets worse as FireWire (400) tends to be faster in real world use than USB 2.0 which often performs significantly slower than its theoretical max...
FYI for anyone who needs a few reference points:
LTE can top out around 1Gbps (1000Mbps)
5G can probably exceed 2Gbps (2000Mbps)
WiFI6: 1.2Gbps - 4.8Gbps(+)
Japan is rolling out 10Gbps Fiber Optic home internet (it's available in many parts of the country right now)
It's honestly pretty embarrassing at this point. Backups, large file transfers, etc you might as well just do them over LTE/5G/WiFi as USB 2.0 can theoretically be slower than connecting to a server half way around the world :/
(which is probably what Apple would say given the rumors of them wanting to make a port-less iPhone but F that, the flagship high speed $1000+ computers in our pockets deserve high speed connectivity as much as any other computing device)
How absurd you ask?
The ORIGINAL iPod, released in 2001(!) used FireWire, which transferred data at, what was at the time, a blistering 400Mbps. The iPhone 14 Pro in 2022, 21 years later, uses USB 2.0, which has a theoretical transfer rate of... 480Mbps... only 20% faster than the FireWire used in the iPod... except it gets worse as FireWire (400) tends to be faster in real world use than USB 2.0 which often performs significantly slower than its theoretical max...
FYI for anyone who needs a few reference points:
LTE can top out around 1Gbps (1000Mbps)
5G can probably exceed 2Gbps (2000Mbps)
WiFI6: 1.2Gbps - 4.8Gbps(+)
Japan is rolling out 10Gbps Fiber Optic home internet (it's available in many parts of the country right now)
It's honestly pretty embarrassing at this point. Backups, large file transfers, etc you might as well just do them over LTE/5G/WiFi as USB 2.0 can theoretically be slower than connecting to a server half way around the world :/
(which is probably what Apple would say given the rumors of them wanting to make a port-less iPhone but F that, the flagship high speed $1000+ computers in our pockets deserve high speed connectivity as much as any other computing device)
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The interesting thing is the Lightning port on the first few iPad Pros were capable of USB 3.0 speeds.
Actually, market share would say that most iPhone users are not using a Mac.
TRUTH, this is the reality distortion field at work. I'm an all-in Apple guy, from desktop, laptop, phone, watch, to airtags, but the absurdity with which they market, while incredibly effective, is just insane.
Their stuff works, sure, but this whole fandom that they stoke about how their stuff is life-changing and they love making things that "improve people's lives" or is "100x faster than [insert last year's model here]" is just marketing BS.
Feel free to fill your port in with JB-Weld and rely on wireless. Many of the rest of us prefer using copper when possible.
Problem is, Apple doesn't support new/fastest WiFi standards, either.
And, have you tried, even over WiFi 6, transferring/restoring a 1TB iPhone? Hope you have plenty of coffee around...
Be careful of the "n of 1". Just because it works in your set up for your data and workflow doesn't mean it works like that for everyone. Similarly, just because it doesn't work for others doesn't mean it's broken or insufficient, too, but reports of AirDrop spottiness and compatibility are pretty widespread, in Apple's own Radar defect tracking system, too.
Also, AirDrop is NOT an appropriate tool for backup, restore, etc. Good luck restoring your 1TB iPhone over, what, WiFi 6? Great. If you won't give us modern USB speeds, at least give us the fastest Wi-Fi available. But, uh, on, not even on the "Pro" can we enjoy this.
Airdrop is great for sharing a handful of photos or small text files, but try transferring multi gig files or hundreds of photos at once and then it sucks.
This is why I'm thinking we'll see 8K recording and USB-C next year.
With 5G, Wifi 6, and AirDrop... who cares? I can transfer RAW files on my Canon 1DX like it's nothing that way and it's never even slightly an issue.
