iPhone Sticking With Lightning Port Over USB-C for 'Foreseeable Future'

[mrat93]

Apple cares about product durability, which is why they will stick with Lightning...

... Which is why their cables don’t fray and haven’t been fraying for decades.

 

[Tom_Aatje]

I remember CarPlay becoming a thing in my car model a year after I bought my car, with no upgrade to it for my own car.

It was annoying, but I remember thinking "Do they really expect people to buy a new car for this? Hell no!"

Well, thing is that some of the Carplay installation (I think most of them still) require a cable connection. I'm in that boat. If the next iPhone theoretically becomes portless and I switch over, Carplay will become useless in my car. I have no way of making it work without heavy modifications.

 

[Suckfest 9001]

that mfi cut is peanuts. 0.5% revenue does not mean net profit. net profit is far less than that. lmao

do the math from the quarterly revenue reports and analyst estimates of what is included in the "other" segment (watches, homepod, accessories) and you can come to a reasonable conclusion of how much revenue Apple gets from iPhone-related lightning accessories. if you have a better estimate than 0.5% revenue, let's hear it.

also, many android users won't buy an iphone because it's lightning. really? apple is going to deny android switchers because they really want that sweet sweet 0.5% revenue? lmao

Lol ok we’ll see you in two years when they announce the move to USB C, I trust you’ll finally like the move then 😂😂

 

[mrat93]

It continues to shock me the number of people that actually care what kind of port their iphone has.

for real!! i love fumbling between similar-looking plugs. it’s fun!

 

[technole]

This is how you make business

Gotta keep the lightning royalties going, you don't get that with USB-C

 

[tridley68]

I say if it's not broken then don't try and fix it.

 

[Souponastick270]

I can see why Apple has stuck to Lightning over USB C, given that Lightning came out first and the amount of time/money they must have spent working on the development of Lightning. Plus it marked the move away from the iPod/30pin era at Apple. (I’m sure Apple has made many times over their original R&D costs of Lightning by now)

Personally I prefer Lightning over USB C simply for the fact there isn’t a centre blade at risk of snapping or getting damaged over time.

I wish there had been more effort to push Thunderbolt when the 1st and 2nd gen came out, like a Lightning to Thunderbolt cable would’ve been useful back in 2012/2013

 

[Suckfest 9001]

Gotta keep the lightning royalties going, you don't get that with USB-C

Yup precisely. They did the math with iPad and found that they probably gain more brownie points for the “it’s a computer” argument than sticking with Lightning. As long as lightning continues being a major source of money for them, they will keep their device ports fragmented

 

[SSDGUY]

As much as I want a usb c iPhone, I gave up hope on that about two years ago and don’t really see any reason they would ever switch, since it seems their next jump will be to remove the port altogether.

So why make everyone “mad” for a year or two only to go completely wireless soon after.

As others have noted, a portless phone option will ruin an important option for many who don't have the latest car audio. Replacing dongles, cables, phones, etc. is one thing, removing one's ability to use their phone in their car is another. I have a 2017 VW Alltrack, and I plan on having it for as many years as I can. It has Apple Car play but not for bluetooth. I don't mind that a bit. I'd rather have the option to plug-in (and charge) my phone and not mess with bluetooth pairing and its inevitable unpairing when you least expect it.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Yea, crazy how a person might want to use the same charger / cable for their iPad & iPhone.

Apple, apparently, thinks it's crazy...hence keeping the lightning port.

 

[farewelwilliams]

Lol ok we’ll see you in two years when they announce the move to USB C, I trust you’ll finally like the move then

Ok so your idea that Apple needs the lightning revenue suddenly went out the window? lol ok. your inconsistency is fascinating.

 

[InuNacho]

This is something that really shouldn't be a big issue for anyone.

Guess you don't live in the real world where Android and USB C dominate. Hard to charge a friend's iPhone when I have USB C.

 

[Suckfest 9001]

Ok so your idea that Apple needs the lightning revenue suddenly went out the window? lol ok. your inconsistency is fascinating.

My only idea at this point is that apple could use floppy disks with a cable hanging out of them in place of lightning and you’d continue supporting them.

Not very often I gotta dust off the ol ignore button, congrats lol. I’m looking for real arguments not just “I agree because apple said it”

 

[FelixDerKater]

One cable to rule them all. Simply life by giving us a USB-C port on the iPhone.

 

[farewelwilliams]

My only idea at this point is that apple could use floppy disks with a cable hanging out of them in place of lightning and you’d continue supporting them

"at this point" because your original point about what's better for Apple "financially" went flying out the window. thanks for proving me right. 😂

👋

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Guess you don't live in the real world where Android and USB C dominate. Hard to charge a friend's iPhone when I have USB C.

Hardly sounds like a "real world" scenario that everyone is plagued with. I've never found myself in that predicament.

 

[HiVolt]

Why does it have to be about profitability? I thought Apple was willing to do what it takes to be environmentally friendly, no? Sure, any switch will generate waste but in the long run sticking with one standard will benefit all (except the bottom line).

I don't think you're aware how Apple is so active against right to repair, they don't give two hoots about environmental impacts of their products being tossed away because they're too expensive to fix, or more lately, impossible to repair outside of Apple's repair network.

 

[jonnysods]

Well for a little while longer I'm ok - I'm way too over invested in lightning cables, with 4 other iOS users in my house I've spent too much on cables!

 

[satchmo]

MFi also generates a significant amount of income for the company since third-party manufacturers have to pay Apple a considerable commission to make Lightning cables or accessories.

Apple could bury an additional 5 cents hike to every iPhone and make this up in a quarter.
The move to USB-C would be perceived as Apple caring about it's users and multi-cable headaches. A win-win.

 

[me22]

I can definitely see the added value of USB-C on my iPad for attaching external disks and such, but what is the added value on the iPhone?

Being able to use that same cable when not using it with your iPad.

 

[Suckfest 9001]

MFi also generates a significant amount of income for the company since third-party manufacturers have to pay Apple a considerable commission to make Lightning cables or accessories.

Apple could bury an additional 5 cents hike to every iPhone and make this up in quarter.
The move to USB-C would be perceived as Apple caring about it's users and multi-cable headaches. A win-win.

they care a lot more about money than their users

 

[farewelwilliams]

Yea, crazy how a person might want to use the same charger / cable for their iPad & iPhone.

let's dump billions of lightning cables into the landfill just to have a slightly better charging experience for 1-3 years before going to a portless iPhone. talk about "crazy".

 

[steevn]

As others have noted, a portless phone option will ruin an important option for many who don't have the latest car audio. Replacing dongles, cables, phones, etc. is one thing, removing one's ability to use their phone in their car is another. I have a 2017 VW Alltrack, and I plan on having it for as many years as I can. It has Apple Car play but not for bluetooth. I don't mind that a bit. I'd rather have the option to plug-in (and charge) my phone and not mess with bluetooth pairing and its inevitable unpairing when you least expect it.

I think everyone who has wired CarPlay right now are really going to be the ones most shocked by the move. While there are quite a few cars on the road today with CarPlay and/or android audio, it’s still a very tiny percentage overall, and not near enough to sway any company to keep a port they don’t need to.

More manufacturers are already moving on to wireless CarPlay now, and unfortunately it will be wired CarPlay that becomes irrelevant.

Technology isn’t going to slow down just so someone can connect their phone to a 15 year old car without wireless CarPlay.

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

Good. USB-C is the Wish version of Lightning.

 

[gbc204]

The iPhone will NEVER, and I do mean NEVER, switch to USBC.
As reports have shown, they’ve been interested in removing the port since 2017.
It will happen eventually. They’re not gonna change the port one year, just to remove it the next. If they wanted to switch, they would’ve done it years ago.
Lightning works. It’s not the best, it’s definitely not the most convenient, but they are still putting it on new products today. The AirPods max came out not even a full two months ago, and they still have Lightning.
So to reiterate, as much as I and several others would love it, USBC Will never be added to the iPhone

I remember when they switched to the Lightning cable, and everyone was so peeved because they had all these 28-pin cables and were moaning about apple switching, and why oh why did they have to switch. I don't mind them staying with the lightning cable at this point. And a lesser concern...just for packing, the USB-C cables are too thick and unwieldy. They're just bigger cables, and not that flexible, which makes them worse for using in the car too.