Why wait...you can be on Android today and sideload to your hearts content.
As I said, I think this is much ado about nothing, but everyone has their own opinion.
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iPhone 15 USB-C Cables Without MFi Badge May Have Data Transfer and Charging Speed Limits
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As I said, I think this is much ado about nothing, but everyone has their own opinion.
Let’s see what happens in practise as we are at rumour stage.
But if they are deliberately forcing cables which are fully compliant with the standard to run below their maximum certified data speed and power deliver capacity while the device does support those speeds and capacities, this is absolutely crippling those cables.
My understanding of that article is that this is what Macrumours is claiming they are planning to do.
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Apple keeps helping me find reasons not to update my iPhone from several years ago. I'll keep it around a bit longer now.
Apple's iPhone 15 series will officially only support USB-C accessories that have been certified by Apple's own Made for iPhone (MFi) program, potentially limiting the functionality of accessories not approved by Apple, an established leaker has now claimed.
Since being introduced in 2012, first-party and MFi-certified Lightning ports and connectors have contained a small integrated circuit that confirms the authenticity of the parts involved in the connection. Non-MFi-certified third-party charging cables, for example, do not feature this chip, often leading to "This accessory is not supported" warnings on connected Apple devices.
Apple is widely expected to switch out the Lightning port for USB-C on iPhone 15 models, and earlier this month, a rumor out of China suggested that the replacement USB-C port would continue to have a Lightning-like authentication chip, despite USB-C ports on Apple's iPads having no such chip.
In a tweet posted on Tuesday, ShrimpApplePro appeared to corroborate the rumor by claiming that "USB-C with MFi is happening," and that Foxconn is already mass producing accessories like EarPods and cables that conform to the Apple certification.
The authenticator chip is there to encourage customers to buy genuine iPhone peripherals, while Apple receives a commission on MFi-certified accessories and the MFi program makes it easier to expose counterfeit and potentially dangerous accessories.
Despite these advantages, the concern from a user perspective is that Apple could use the MFi program to limit features like fast charging and high-speed data transfer to Apple and MFi-certified cables. And that is precisely what AppleShrimpPro believes we should expect. "Cables with no MFi will be software limited in data and charging speed," said the leaker in a follow-up tweet.
According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the USB-C port on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will remain limited to Lightning/USB 2.0 speeds, while faster transfer speeds will be exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models. ShrimpApplePro's tweets add a new complexion to Kuo's prediction.
ShrimpApplePro accurately leaked the hardware design of the Dynamic Island on iPhone 14 Pro models, giving them an established track record for rumors. Earlier this month, the leaker said the iPhone 15 Pro will feature even thinner bezels around the display. ShrimpApplePro also previously claimed that at least one iPhone 15 model will feature a titanium frame and curved rear edges, which could mirror the curved bezels.
Article Link: iPhone 15 USB-C Cables Without MFi Badge May Have Data Transfer and Charging Speed Limits
I don’t understand how this is a big deal unless they don’t include a cable in the box.
Which… I’m sure they’ll stop including a cable in the box eventually, but definitely not for the first USB-C iPhone.
The iPhone is a lot more of an important product than the Apple TV
Which… I’m sure they’ll stop including a cable in the box eventually, but definitely not for the first USB-C iPhone.
The iPhone is a lot more of an important product than the Apple TV
No, this is about cables, not accessory’s.
Governments will never outsmart tech companies like Apple with legislation. Apple will always be ten steps ahead.
Does this go against the spirit of the new rules? Probably. But even if the EU was successful in essentially rendering the MFI programs pointless in Europe, Apple will just make up the lost income by further increasing the prices in Europe with another invisible fee.
People already whinge and whine about high prices in Europe without realising much of it is due to taxes and various import duties applied on devices sold in the EU zone. Get ready for even higher prices if the EU wants to go down this road.
Does this go against the spirit of the new rules? Probably. But even if the EU was successful in essentially rendering the MFI programs pointless in Europe, Apple will just make up the lost income by further increasing the prices in Europe with another invisible fee.
People already whinge and whine about high prices in Europe without realising much of it is due to taxes and various import duties applied on devices sold in the EU zone. Get ready for even higher prices if the EU wants to go down this road.
Apple engineers, if you're reading this: This is stupid. Don't do it.
According to the EU law, if the device supports charging at "voltages higher than 5 volts, currents higher than 3 amperes or powers higher than 15 watts," then it must support USB-C PD. So I don't think Apple could limit charging speeds unless they were somehow supporting more than 240W, the limit of USB-C PD. And if they only supported up to 5V/3A/15W then I don't see why they would want to limit speeds further.
I suspect that data will certainly be limited. iPhone 15 and 15 Plus will be limited to 480 Mbps due to the limitations of the SoC (A16 only had lightning ports previously), while it is likely that iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max will probably require the MFi chip to enable faster speeds.
This still seems like a rather stupid strategy on Apple's part though. I would hate to see them run afoul of EU regulators again.
According to the EU law, if the device supports charging at "voltages higher than 5 volts, currents higher than 3 amperes or powers higher than 15 watts," then it must support USB-C PD. So I don't think Apple could limit charging speeds unless they were somehow supporting more than 240W, the limit of USB-C PD. And if they only supported up to 5V/3A/15W then I don't see why they would want to limit speeds further.
I suspect that data will certainly be limited. iPhone 15 and 15 Plus will be limited to 480 Mbps due to the limitations of the SoC (A16 only had lightning ports previously), while it is likely that iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max will probably require the MFi chip to enable faster speeds.
This still seems like a rather stupid strategy on Apple's part though. I would hate to see them run afoul of EU regulators again.
There are lots of people who still use the cables for data transfer (backups and file transfers).
It's an underhanded move but expected from Apple. No way would it lose MFI royalties from switching over from Lighting to USB-C.
Why can't Apple make Lighting/USB2 to Lighting/USB3 speed? Apple's need for profit and greed, considering it is literally pushing 4K photos/videos yet limits the speed for cable file transfers.
It's an underhanded move but expected from Apple. No way would it lose MFI royalties from switching over from Lighting to USB-C.
Why can't Apple make Lighting/USB2 to Lighting/USB3 speed? Apple's need for profit and greed, considering it is literally pushing 4K photos/videos yet limits the speed for cable file transfers.
Why wait...you can be on Android today and sideload to your hearts content.
Is it really an opinion to say "throttling USB-C cables on the iPhone is a bad idea when the Mac and iPad doesn't do that?"
So Apple is purposely being anti-consumer with this - gimp the speeds so you have to buy a $30 cable to get them. Why do we keep excusing them for this behavior?
Tell me again how removing the charging cable from the phone box will help the environment? Because this certainly won't.
Tell me again how removing the charging cable from the phone box will help the environment? Because this certainly won't.
not really, all the rules were talking about was the USB-C design.
IE: every device should have the exact same shaped gap in it to use for charging.
It’s been a while since I read it but if I’m not mistaken, I don’t think there’s a single thing in there about speeds or capabilities or data transfer amounts or anything like that.
Which still is my biggest problem with C, even without Apple in the mix it’s still a messy system.
Some cables support thunderbolt, some don’t.
Some devices support thunderbolt, some don’t.
Some devices are at 3.0 speeds, some are stuck at 2.0 speeds.
Some cables are charging only, some can do both charging and data.
So to me, this just looks like Apple doing what every other company has already done over the last eight years.
We keep excusing it because people don’t care.
Me too. This nickel and dime practice by Apple is irritating and turning many consumers away from their products.
I'm going to switch over to Android too. I'm tired of these anti-consumer practices by Apple.
Friendly reminder the $1600+ StudiNo Display has a nonremovable power cable, so that entire monitor is going straight into the landfill if that cable breaks.
Apple at this point is just greenwashing.
You don't care about integrity? That's unfortunate, and I say that very mildly.
People are ok with spending an extra $30 here, another $30 there to get the full potential of their devices.
Sad.
I think it’s more the case that few will ever spend the extra money in the first place, and those that want the feature will either spend the money, or do without.
Not that I approve this approach, I believe everything should charge with USBC as fast as possible no matter the cable.
But from the technical point of view...
The EU specs say that under 60W it "only needs to work" and above 15W needs to be "compatible with PD".
The way I see it if they make it exactly 15W (or less) only the first part applies: "it must work" but without any specification on "how fast".
So they can lock MFi to 15W and any other cable to 5 and still be up to spec, spinning it creatively and say "higher speeds with non-MFi cables could hurt the battery or set the device on fire".
It would also explain why MFi was not added to iPads (more than 15W).
The specs also only regulate charging, how about data speeds?
And what happens above 60W?
This mess is similar to GDPR, which forced everyone to do the cookie stuff and data export which just usually dumps database rows to JSON and nobody really cares about any of it.
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A fool and his money are soon parted. Enjoy paying more just to get your device up to speed.
Don’t worry about me, I’ll manage without the faster charging or data speeds since I do it all wirelessly already 😀
If this is true, hopefully the EU shuts it down. This is obviously not what their legislation meant.