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Kuo: AirPods Pro With USB-C Charging Case to Launch Later This Year

msackey said:
Hmm...interesting. I haven't had that issue with my iPad Pro which has a USB C port.
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Yeah, I have been using USB-C for years with by MacBook Pro, then MacBook Air, iPad, and before I switched back to iPhone, a number of Android phones. Never had anything like jonproject described happen yet.
 
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contacos said:
Not gonna happen. They want to make sure you instantly recognize AirPods in the wild. It’s like a psychological scheme „everyone has them, I must have them too!“. You think anyone recognizes my Sony WF-1000XM4? 😅 the alone shows that Sony does not really care
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Thing is tho... Sony's headphones are good! :) Contemplating a pair of XM5's myself.
 
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letsGoOn2 said:
I personally think the lightning connector was necessary when it was introduced some 11 years ago now. It replaced the apple 30-pin connector, which was big and hard to fit on smaller devices.

The USB connector at the time lighting was introduced was USB-A, which was also fairly large and somewhat fussy in that it had to be inserted in the correct orientation. USB went on to add "mini" and "micro" connectors, but they were still single-orientation connectors that were prone to wear and damage, and the sheer number of similar, incompatible connectors was confusing. If USB-C existed back then it would have made sense for Apple to adopt it, but I think Apple did well to avoid USB in that era.

The lighting connector is easy to plug in even when you aren't looking at it, and other than occasional debris accumulation in the port the connector has been fairly reliable for a decade or so. USB-C has reached parity with lighting in terms of size, ease of use, and durability, and so I think the time is right for Apple to finally adopt the universal standard.
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Well said and I agree with most of it, but I don't think it'll ever stop being funny to me how we've gone from people pitching fits when the 2016 MacBook Pro wholeheartedly embraced the universal standard—"Not a single USB-A?! What am I supposed to do with all my old cables?!"—to people pitching fits that the iPhone has not wholeheartedly embraced the universal standard.
 
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lcs101 said:
Been holding out on AirPods Pro, but was finally going to get some now that it's so easy to find the $50 off. I just have to decide now if I'd rather buy now with discount, wait for USB-C and pay full price, or wait for USB-C and then a bit more time for those to get a discount.
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This is the most first-world decision ever lol
 
I don't get it. I know the EU has been threatening Apple over the stupid USB-C. What I don't understand is why some people have been getting so excited about USB-C on the AirPods case. I wirelessly charge and have no reason to use the lightning port. If I needed to plug it in for some reason, I'm sure the lightning port would work fine. Why the outrage/excitement/kerfuffle over USB-C on these things? I can't see how the port would make any significant difference with anything.
 
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hooptyuber said:
I don't get it. I know the EU has been threatening Apple over the stupid USB-C. What I don't understand is why some people have been getting so excited about USB-C on the AirPods case. I wirelessly charge and have no reason to use the lightning port. If I needed to plug it in for some reason, I'm sure the lightning port would work fine. Why the outrage/excitement/kerfuffle over USB-C on these things? I can't see how the port would make any significant difference with anything.
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Exactly. I also use my Apple Watch charger to juice up my 2nd generation AirPods Pro and haven’t even used the lightning port once. Now, USB-C makes more sense with transferring large files (like video) with a smartphone but that comes with a caveat with Apple (cable compatibility, slower speeds with the regular iPhone 15, 15 Plus).
 
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They should just get rid of the port to make room for a larger internal battery. I have never charged the first or second gen AirPods Pro with the Lightning cable. All wireless baby! And now that the second gen can be charged by Qi, MagSafe or Apple Watch charger, it's a no-brainer.
 
contacos said:
Not gonna happen. They want to make sure you instantly recognize AirPods in the wild. It’s like a psychological scheme „everyone has them
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Are you joking,..every $2 shop sells white earphones these days! When I see them, I think cheapskate,..there is no "wow" moment that you apparently have 😂
 
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hooptyuber said:
I don't get it. I know the EU has been threatening Apple over the stupid USB-C. What I don't understand is why some people have been getting so excited about USB-C on the AirPods case. I wirelessly charge and have no reason to use the lightning port. If I needed to plug it in for some reason, I'm sure the lightning port would work fine. Why the outrage/excitement/kerfuffle over USB-C on these things? I can't see how the port would make any significant difference with anything.
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I am personally indifferent to it myself. I can’t help but wonder if all this furore over the usb c port is less about its actual utility and more about the desire to see Apple capitulate (eg: watch a god bleed).
 
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macduke said:
They should just get rid of the port to make room for a larger internal battery. I have never charged the first or second gen AirPods Pro with the Lightning cable. All wireless baby! And now that the second gen can be charged by Qi, MagSafe or Apple Watch charger, it's a no-brainer.
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Really? Not everyone has wireless charging, and those of us that do like myself may only have it at home and not the office.
 
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So odd there is a lightning vs USB-C movement.

I mean why are people supporting a proprietary connection port from a trillion dollar company and seeing as a fight between freedom and liberty vs big government oppression?
 
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cateye said:
People feel their Magical and Amazing Apple products are less "special" if they use the same charging/data port that everyone else gets to use. Lightning is technically inferior in every possible way, but it's unique, and that's absolutely an emotional draw to a certain subset of the population. But we can't blame people—Apple has shaped it that way.

We don't get a standard connector, we get Apple's proprietary connector that Apple then abandons at some point in the future in order to churn adoption of some other "magical" advancement—Apple had to think fast due to the EU forcing their hand, so the rumors say we're getting spurious MFI USB-C cables. Those new to the ecosystem, or only iOS owners, won't realize that Apple has been pulling this nonsense since the 680x0 Mac days—never missing an opportunity to squeeze profit from users through proprietary connectors or, even worse, non-standard signaling across otherwise standards-compliant connectivity, then marketing that difference as a benefit. It is a marketing conceit wrapped in technological hand-waving designed to increase high-margin ancillary purchases and it's utterly shameless.

The side effect of the cognitive dissonance of people having to abandon this shaping suddenly, as in the case of Lightning versus USB-C, is strenuously telling us how they "...only use wireless charging anyway." Super looking forward to that for the next year.
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K.
 
bluecoast said:
So odd there is a lightning vs USB-C movement.

I mean why are people supporting a proprietary connection port from a trillion dollar company and seeing as a fight between freedom and liberty vs big government oppression?
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There's not a a “lightning vs USB-C movement.” Most people don't care one way or the other. What's surprising is that some people are adamantly insisting they won't buy a pair of AirPods until they have USB-C even though that has no effect at all on the AirPods' functioning.

A better question than the one you asked is, why are some people such eager submissive bootlickers to whatever dictum a government hands down? Does anyone really want a phone designed by the EU?
 
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hooptyuber said:
There's not a a “lightning vs USB-C movement.” Most people don't care one way or the other. What's surprising is that some people are adamantly insisting they won't buy a pair of AirPods until they have USB-C even though that has no effect at all on the AirPods' functioning.

A better question than the one you asked is, why are some people such eager submissive bootlickers to whatever dictum a government hands down? Does anyone really want a phone designed by the EU?
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It’s just a port standard! I mean who cares in the end?

I mean apple already killed the iPod 30 pin connector before.

And everyone got very very upset by that, but obviously recovered & grew to love lightning.

Personally I’m good with all my devices using usb-c.

And it looks like apple will still get their MFI $ with higher data transfer and charge rates only being supported by MFI certified cables.

I’m not sure what the issue is here. Unless people are libertarian.

But then I’d say - why do we have to have the electricity current specified to us by governments?

Let each company decide what current strength to output like they did 120 years or so ago.

Wonder why they changed that? 🤔
 
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