iPhone 15 USB-C Cables Again Said to Be Limited to USB 2.0 Transfer Speeds

[mingoglia]

Yeah, because I find myself in a situation where I "need" to transfer at 40 Gb/s every day from my phone. Now where's that :eyesroll: emoji? Heck, I'm only getting upwards of 700 Mb/s from the MBP I'm typing this on through my WiFi 6. I can't wait to get my new iPhone so I can finally post to the Macrumor forums effectively without having to wait forever for the Post reply button to post my message on this 3rd world caveman junk I'm currently working on. Yeah, I know, everyone is transitioning to become YouTube sensations and needs the ability to upload their 8K content up to the YouTubes over their 25 Mb/s "up" broadband connection.

 

[arobert3434]

The original Firewire interface on iPods was comparable to USB 2. Top transfer speed on USB is a little higher, but the latter protocol involves more latencies on small chunks so in practice felt slower. It's crazy that they took all the downsides of USB when switching (slower, clunky USB-A connector) and are only giving us one advantage (cable standardization) now. The chief of the cable division at Apple is being dragged out kicking and screaming. "$20 million revenue per quarter! 85% margins!" he shouts, but the days when only 8 figures counted for anything in Apple finances have long since gone.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Here is another way to use Apple’s USB-C port on the upcoming iPhone. 👀 🤫

New feature: Dynamic Island Pro aka Magic Port Action.

 

[Daytona 360]

And that price point. Lol

Have you actually checked the price difference between a USB C cable that is 480Mbps and one that is 5/10Gbps capable?

 

[Jamie0003]

MFi makes Apple very little money.
Yet in the same thread, we see someone complaining Apple saving money on using USB-C 2.0 is just pocket change.

If MFI makes apple very little money, why does it exist in the first place? The argument it’s about safety is bull, because there are plenty of crappy cables you can buy on Amazon and the like that aren’t safe

But yeah it is pretty unbelievable haha

Heard that MiFi makes Apple like 50% of their revenue, that's lot of money.
How dare a company make money by selling products, they are supposed to be a charity serving people and making the technology open source so that the whole society can benefit.

wow, the fanboy is strong in this one. I have no idea why people blindly follow these companies and their selfish decisions.

 

[Reason077]

I can’t even count how many device I have that came with USB cables that cannot carry any data and are only wired for power.

ALL compliant USB-C cables must be able to carry USB 2.0 data.

If you have an actual USB-C cable (ie: not some adapter or USB-A cable) that can’t transmit data then it isn’t compliant and should be returned.

 

[bluecoast]

It’s classic Apple penny pinching, but:

How many people getting a regular iPhone will care?

How many people with a regular iPhone even use the cable to transfer data in 2023?

A very small amount I’d imagine.

I think if issues like this are important to anyone, they need to get a iPhone pro 15.

 

[Reason077]

Who could have seen this EU-made disaster coming from a mile away? 🙋‍♂️ 🙋‍♂️ 🙋‍♂️ 🙋‍♂️

> EU mandates USB-C without specifying USB 3.0 minimum spec

The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) are the ones who specified USB 2.0 when they created the USB-C spec. If you’re looking for someone to blame, blame them.

Every USB-C charging cable that’s ever shipped with a Mac, an iPad, or millions of Android devices only supports USB 2.0.

Either way, the USB-C cable that comes with your new iPhone will still be way more capable and more useful than the Lightning cable that came with old iPhones.

 

[tripsync]

If MFI makes apple very little money, why does it exist in the first place? The argument it’s about safety is bull

+compatibility (such as airplay so you know the cable should work as intended). Cables on Amazon that aren't MFi will show "this accessory may not be supported" error message which will let the user know it's not a reputable seller of cables. If they don't now, they will in a future iPhone update. Plenty of reports showing "ever since I updated my iPhone, my cable stopped working".

 

[tripsync]

The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) are the ones who specified USB 2.0 when they created the USB-C spec. If you’re looking for someone to blame, blame them.

Well no, EU should know the consequences of their actions.

Example: if USB-IF decided 1.1 speeds/5W(1A) was fine, would EU be ok with every phone manufacturer including 1.1 speeds/5W(1A) charging in every box to save on money? If no, then EU should have known this with the current spec.

Every USB-C charging cable that’s ever shipped with a Mac, an iPad, or millions of Android devices only supports USB 2.0.

I'm well aware. Sounds like EU wasn't aware.

Either way, the USB-C cable that comes with your new iPhone will still be way more capable and more useful than the Lightning cable that came with old iPhones.

Nope. It'll literally not be *more* useful for me.

 

[Wildkraut]

Dude, EU regulations are not about transferring data, but power. How many users care about transfer speed from/to their phone via cable? All the photos and videos are backed up in cloud or can be transferred via wireless network like AirDrop. There is probably less than 1% of users who would benefit from USB 3.x bandwidth. Most people care about having one cable to recharge their laptop, phone, headphones etc.

EU already warned Apple a while back, Apple is searching for problems and will find.

EU Warns Apple About Limiting Speeds of Uncertified USB-C Cables for iPhones

Last year, the EU passed legislation that will require the iPhone and many other devices with wired charging to be equipped with a USB-C port in...

www.macrumors.com

 

[NightFox]

They aren‘t designing anything. They just regulate the amount of scamming customers and taxing the environment that they tolerate, in the area that they are being held responsible for.
Try to find some sleep when you‘re an environmental minister and this Lightning and MFI crap is bring executed on your premises. You don‘t if you‘re true to your word or task of taking care of it.

Huh? I didn't even make the comment that you've quoted me as saying.

 

[Manzanito]

Wrong argument. I'm making the argument that this USB-C mandate will lead to a worse outcome for the environment than sticking with lightning.

But it won’t. Having the same connector in all the phone models available makes it easy to share cables between appliances.

For instance, if you loose the cable that came with your iPhone, the same cable that charges your macbook or your iPad will charge your phone.

If other people on your household have an android phone you can borrow their charger, instead of having to buy one.

If you want to use carplay and android auto in your car, now you only need one cable.

How is sticking with lightning better for the environment?

 

[Reason077]

Well no, EU should know the consequences of their actions.

Example: if USB-IF decided 1.1 speeds/5W(1A) was fine, would EU be ok with every phone manufacturer including 1.1 speeds/5W(1A) charging in every box to save on money? If no, then EU should have known this with the current spec.

USB-C requires a minimum of 60W (3A @ 20V) capability. All compliant USB-C cables must support this. (That's much better than Lightning which is limited to 18W!)

I'm well aware. Sounds like EU wasn't aware.

The EU regulations have nothing at all to do with data transfer. It's about charging.

There are consequences if the EU (or USB-IF) decided that all cables must support USB 3.0 high-speed data. Such cables require more wires and more shielding, making them thicker, heavier, and more expensive. It would make all cables more expensive for a functionality that just wouldn't be necessary or used most of the time.

Nope. It'll literally not be *more* useful for me.

The USB-C cable will be far more useful than any Lightning cable. You can use that same cable to charge your MacBook (at up to 60W), or any other USB-C device. The USB-C port will also be far more useful than Lightning, being compatible with far more accessories, being capable of much faster charging, and being able to output much better quality video using standard HDMI adapters etc.

 

[rhill1124]

Dude, EU regulations are not about transferring data, but power. How many users care about transfer speed from/to their phone via cable? All the photos and videos are backed up in cloud or can be transferred via wireless network like AirDrop. There is probably less than 1% of users who would benefit from USB 3.x bandwidth. Most people care about having one cable to recharge their laptop, phone, headphones etc.

I agree with most of this. I’m in the leave my lighting cord alone camp. Yes, I know it’s a very small camp.😂

I’m still running 13 Pro max and I am NOT upgrading until I have to because of the USB cord.

 

[MrAverigeUser]

Who could have seen this EU-made disaster coming from a mile away? 🙋‍♂️ 🙋‍♂️ 🙋‍♂️ 🙋‍♂️

> EU mandates USB-C without specifying USB 3.0 minimum spec
> Apple ships billions of USB 2.0 cables with the box to keep costs down
> Users throw their USB-C 2.0 cables away when they realize these cables are slow, so instead of relying in AirDrop, they upgrade to an Anker USB3.0 cable
> Apple switches to portless phone several years later
> Users throw their USB3.0 cables away because portless iPhone is out and most of their other accessories are USB 4.1/5.0 with even better XYZ features

Meanwhile lightning hasn't changed one bit since ten years ago, did one thing really well: charge your iPhone, and there are billions of good functioning cables out there that didn't need to be thrown away before the portless iPhone.

Tell me again how this is a great idea for the environment.

As I predicted, big brain 5-head EU has absolutely no clue what they're doing. Thank them for the awfully annoying cookie popup on every single website too.

Evidently you don't know the reason for this law of the EU?
I will explain it for you:

For decades every Enterprise had its own charger, for along time with fixed cables that fitted at nothing but some of the products of just one Enterprise.
So - a billion of well-working charger (including their special cables) have been thrown away.

This has been an enormous waste and polluted the environment enormously.

Then there have been more and more charger with standard-slots for standard-cables... what a wonderful idea.... but only for other customers than apple's customers. For more than decade apple produced their own charger for Macs with FIXED (!) cables... so - apple products polluted the environment still further on... but not only that - they have now produced THREE different magSafe connectors in 2 decades for Macs... it was only some yers ago that apple started to deliver their chargers for Macs with exchangeable cables... they have been behind the moon for a long time...

apple continued wasting the environment by NOT following the other enterprises who all delivered charger with USB cables which you could use even for other generations of machines.

Same for the very special connectors for IOS products, since along time with the ridicules weak littler "lightning" cables which often enough failed after a short time albeit extremely costly - what a waste !!! And not only the connector was non-reliable, often enough even the lightning-slot of the IOS products.

Jonathan Ive evidently had no clue about physics - such a little connector like the lightning connector cannot survive more than some hundred times being plugged in... I have thrown away at least 10 lightning cables in the last 15 Years... because they stopped working.

USB-C ist a new standard since a long time now and apple did refuse to use this standard for their by far most-selling product, the iPhones and iPads.

THIS is the scandal, and NOT the EU -lawto demanded apple for decade friendly to join the other enterprises in using international standardized connections... At one point the EU had enough, stopped begging and trying to convince apple to engage for the environment - and the law was there.
The only scandal is the arrogance and ignorance of apple - and maybe the fact that the EU has been far too patient with apple in this case...

As for the transmission-speed USB 2.0 (=stone-age) for loading data to the IOS products:
This has nothing to do with the EU-law, but with the enormous GREED ob apples side:

They demand since decades astronomic prices for memory and storage space...

and they would gain less money if their customers could accept a small storage space - because with a FAST USB-C connection towards the IOS products it was easy to connect a third-party USB-C stick with some 100 or even 1000 GB just and transfer their data to their IOS product.

So - the only to blame is greedy apple, who tries to get the most of money out of their customers pockets - even if they pollute enormously the envierement...

And NO reason to blame the EU...

 

[spcopsmac21]

AirDrop isn't using solely Bluetooth. It's using WiFi direct. Bluetooth is used to negotiate the transfer and then it switches to WiFi to do the fast transfer. But yeah 480 mbps USB is probably similar to WiFi speeds.

Never heard of that brand, source?

that brand? Straight Talk is walmart's in house brand of affordable unlocked phones.

Motorola has boxed every phone with a USB c 3.0 for nearly three years. Even their budget phones.

AirDrop isn't using solely Bluetooth. It's using WiFi direct. Bluetooth is used to negotiate the transfer and then it switches to WiFi to do the fast transfer. But yeah 480 mbps USB is probably similar to WiFi speeds.

you just described how all Bluetooth on earth functions.

You completely ignored the false equivalency argument 🤦‍♂️

how? I made a joke post someone took as seriouse. I think the firsbee flies over your head often does it not?

 

[spcopsmac21]

I meant over future Wifi7 directly to my MacBook

in the future we will also have flying cars

 

[timmodugdale]

You‘re saying they have no understanding, as if they don‘t have groups who do the deep dives. That‘s just speculation and the fact that you have numerous people here NOT being on Apple‘s side with this tells me you just try to move their posts away from the recent ones.
USB-C is a connector standard, and by everyone using that standard which does not limit anything that Apple does or wants to do this is by definition the best for everyone, because everyone can use said cables for at least charging, and data as well unless some greedy companies like Apple intentionally f*** up the cable like with the MFI ramifications. Or by being cheap with going back to 2001 USB speeds based on their decision.

This could also get regulated and every consumer could benefit from it, yet they leave that freedom to the companies and here you see clearly what you get when you let Apple do whatever they want. People get upset and the apologists come to the rescue and say „yeah but others do it too/no one uses the cable for data“.
If that were the case, maybe just remove the data part. But maybe that‘s actually not the case.

You could just as much say „no one uses the iPhone mini“.

Also, no one is codifying anything, and no one says that all iPhones must have x. No one is saying this is forever. You just invent scenarios to inflate your argument.

All the EU does is say that if you want to sell your device on their premises, the cable has to have a certain form factor, just like a power adapter. You‘re not getting an EU power adapter in your NA iToy and you are not getting an NA power adapter in your EU version, and it makes totally sense. We are having the advantage that the cable world already has a compatible standard which is why they acted. And they acted because people in the EU want the nonsense cable production and waste gone. If you are at any given social event and someone has a phone, the question is always whether or not you have an iPhone or else, and that nuissance will be gone.
If I invite you into my home, you also can‘t do everything you want. It‘s just the same.

To be blunt, YES. That is exactly what I think!

 

[BaldiMac]

"Trust me, it will be different next time." Ad infinitum

Different? Apple implementing a better connector than what's available would be the same thing that happened last time.

The legislation is in place because your hypothetical scenario hasn't played out to date. Forget Lightning, we still haven't been freed of Micro-USB. How long are we supposed to wait and hope?

I said a year ago that requiring all devices that use USB to use USB-C would be a great law that wouldn't stifle innovation. It would allow competition from new connectors to spur the USB consortium to keep up with private alternatives.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/eu-passes-law-to-switch-iphone-to-usb-c-by-end-of-2024.2363807/post-31586145

You can't ignore history. Another part of history is the (admittedly slow) evolution of the USB port. It's dishonest to assume this will stop. The USB-IF will continue development and lobby the EU for updates as appropriate. It will be good to have Apple invested in that process instead of their own proprietary version too, as it might speed the process up.

History certainly doesn't support eliminating competition as a means to speed up innovation.

At the end of the day Apple and co brought this layer of bureaucracy on themselves, and they need to sleep in the bed they made.

I have no idea what that means. Apple developed a proprietary solution that worked better than existing solutions. That's not bringing a problem on themselves. The EU brought this problem on them.

Edit: Dishonest is harsh. I consider it a misrepresentation. If the misrepresentation is intentional, then it would be dishonest, but I shouldn't assume intention.

I didn't misrepresent anything. You did when you claimed there was a "more performant standard available". USB-C was released 2 years after lightning.

 

[Damian83]

People think that Apple would have given away thunderbolt 4 cable for free with iPhone, what they don;t know is we will be paying for everything, including packaging and shipping (even though it is "Free").

Ehm problem isnt the cable provided. Problem is the iphone itself limited. I dont care if apple gives me tb4 or lightning, it will break anyway after few months. Problem is even if i have a tb4, it will be still limited to usb2...

 

[spcopsmac21]

Have you actually checked the price difference between a USB C cable that is 480Mbps and one that is 5/10Gbps capable?

Yep, night and day.
And apple will still charge industry high prices for the 480mbps cable

Ehm problem isnt the cable provided. Problem is the iphone itself limited. I dont care if apple gives me tb4 or lightning, it will break anyway after few months. Problem is even if i have a tb4, it will be still limited to usb2...

this. Apple will use the cheapest chipset to shave profit. You could have the best TB4 cable and it will crawl.
Apple is truly trying to redefine the " PRO" features in it's product lines.
But we have $300 Android phones with USB 3.0 and $500 Asus laptops with the " PRO" features baked in as standard features.
Apple is walling it's garden off with barbwire and a minefield.
And keeping people from even attempting to cross over in. Adoption of apple products from non apple uses has fallen sharp year after year.

 

[BaldiMac]

We are talking about cables here, you brought up the connector. Of which Lightning has nothing to offer that stands out other than being proprietary and powercreeping any cables that are not MFI-kissed.
USB-C has improved upon all that it contains, Lightning has had zero, so your argument doesn‘t stand. We don‘t need the EU to tell us this because everyone knows about all the shortcomings of Lightning and Apple‘s unwillingness or inability (or both?) to improve it.

We were talking about the EU's decision to mandate the USB-C connector. Not cables or transfer protocols. We won't know how Apple would have chosen to improve the lightning connector after the decade that Apple originally said it would be in use, because the EU has prevented that.

You can hate the EU and call its decisions stupid but it won‘t change the fact that you will find very few if any actual physically existent EU citizens who are against this. Which is why they did it.

I don't hate the EU. I think it's great. But that doesn't mean they're perfect. Ending global competition for an important feature is overreach and a mistake.

You are correct. But the iPhone via Bluetooth can not process the data as fast as my internet. It has to compress and send. I wish my phone transferred data that fast. But it doesn’t.

What does bluetooth have to do with what I said?

Sure a few hundred megabytes. In a city with 5GUW. But most of us don’t have access to that. And if we do it’s in the city and usually slower than LTE because every human in the area is using it at the same time.

???? A few hundred megabytes? Wifi 7 could transfer multiple GB while you walked from your car to your home computer.

 

[BenLeong]

So in 2023, Apple gives a camera that can take large, high quality 4K video files—but when it comes to transfer speeds of said files, we get a cable with the capability limitations of 2008?

Apple, you suck.

 

[jaytv111]

that brand? Straight Talk is walmart's in house brand of affordable unlocked phones.

Motorola has boxed every phone with a USB c 3.0 for nearly three years. Even their budget phones

Okay, so where’s your source on Motorola providing a 3.1 USB C cable?

I’d be really surprised because Moto G phones straight from their website says they are USB 2.0 ports, so it’d be useless to have a 3.1 cable for a 2.0 only phone, that’s for sure.