MacRumors Readers Hoping for USB-C Instead of Lightning in 2019 iPhones

USB-C for me, mostly because the iPad Pro had already gone there and this will save me from carrying an extra cable when travelling.

 

What’s interesting is Apple gets a lot of flak for cables that die before the device, but people are replacing their competitors cables in the same 2 year span but many times the techies have been forced to upgrade android devices by then to be able to upgrade the OS.

 

I want one cable for everything. I don't want to be stuck on Lightning's USB 2.0 speeds. I want USB 3 Type-C, or better yet, Thunderbolt 3.

 

Easy to fry your gear with USB-C. It's one of the worst, if not the worst connector in the history of connectors.

 

1. Who's doing all of this fast data transfer? A Minority who frequent Mac Rumors? Or the vast majority of iPhone users worldwide who either don't backup at all, or rely on the cloud?

2. The Lightning port is capable of much more than Apple currently allows. What makes you think Apple will allow anything more with USB-C?

3. I have no idea what you mean. Lightning is protected. USB-C is a mess of standards between cables right now.

4. And yet nobody else in the world is really using USB-C. I work on the campus of an international company with over 10,000 employees worldwide, yet if I needed to find a USB-C cable, I wouldn't know where to start, even our IT guys don't have USB-C cables in our PC-based environment. Moreover, just because an accessory is available in USB-C doesn't mean Apple will support or allow it. Just try to plug a USB-C mouse into a new iPad Pro and see if it works. Further, what possibilities could USB-C offer that Lightning doesn't already?

 

I voted Lightning ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

i dont understand how people say 'I dont care', dont you ever searched for a 'Iphone cable' in office or friends place for immediate desperate need of charging...universal compatible cables solves this problem.

USB-C is the way to go...specifically for a 1000$ expensive device.

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you literally accepted, not having faster transfer rates is one way to increase Icloud revenue..

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but those phones are available at fraction of cost what apple is charging...

 

There are USB A to C cables that work fine.

 

In, I think, 2009, Apple buckled to pressure from Greenpeace to remove PVC from their plastic cables. As a result of the lack of that ingredient, Apple cables deteriorate much more rapidly. Basically every other cable manufacturer out there uses PVC in their plastics, and that's why they don't fray like Apple cables. And this isn't just lightning cables; it's computer power cords and Apple TV cables as well (ever notice how those turn an ashy gray after a couple of years when they were black out of the box?). It's really a shame because when an Apple cable deteriorates and needs to be thrown away and replaced, it's not exactly "green," now is it Greenpeace?

 

I vote for a new proprietary port, because, well, it is Apple and they love selling you Dongles and Adapters to use your new shiny phone with your 1/2 year old computer.

 

Lightning is perfectly fine. Why change just for the sake of change? We all have a bunch of lightning cables at this point. I don't want to have to invest all over again in cables for my damn phone.

 

Some fools bought clock radios that expect lightening iPhones

 

I had that problem myself at first and then I quit FB completely and changed most of my privacy settings on Google. My point however was why do I need to take a site like MR which is a mildly entertaining distraction and have three places to view it and follow it?

I think I can get the news of new watch bands all in one place.

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Apple is not going to be the company you like it to be in the future. If they were they would have little to no growth and selling off would make sense. You have to believe in the services, wearables and health narrative to continue on otherwise $170 is a good exit point.

When medicare and insurance start to cover Apple watches and it's software that is a big growth area for Apple. If you just want cool phones and computers there is the next big thing somewhere else.

 

It only works on everything it’s been on.

 

While advocating for USB-C we need to remember that USB-C is just a connector. This will bring a lot of the complexity that it has brought to other devices (I've had to go through this pain after getting a Thunderbolt/USB-C only MacBook). The iPhone's USB-C connector would likely support a subset of version of USB (2.0, 3.0, 3.1 Gen 1, 3.1 Gen 2, 3.2) x multiple amps (1A, 2A, 3A, 5A) x multiple USB-PD profiles (rev1 vs rev2) x (5V, 9V, 15V, 20V), and finally multiple "alternate modes" to supports (e.g. Thunderbolt 3, HDMI, DisplayPort, etc...), then you will need a cable to match as cheaper cables will not give you all features, or just buy the fanciest $40 apple/belkin cable and be done with it (look at some of the options/price differences at https://www.monoprice.com/pages/usb_31_type_c). Not to mention that a charger will have to match the USB PD spec your device supports, plus the spec your cable supports.

So, I'm not saying we should never move to USB-C connectors, just warning people that its not a 'magic' connector, and you will most likely end up buy the most expensive Thunderbolt USB-C 10GB cables most of the time after you've been burned with incompatible cables.

Look at the Nintendo Switch for example. Buy the wrong cable, it fries your switch. Buy the wrong adapter, it charges but doesn't power the HDMI port on the dock due to incompatible PD specs (or maybe you have the correct adapter, but not the right cable, uugh).

 

Why would it matter and why would anyone care?

 

If USB-C is good enough for Apple laptops and iPad Pros, why isn't USB-C good enough for Apple phones? Have there been any widespread reports of USB-C cables breaking and clogging with dust? Apple NuKeyboards, sure -- those break and clog with dust all the time. But USB-C cables?

 

I think the phone would have to be substantially thicker. I know these arguments go on forever but sleek is good. Otherwise I would wholeheartedly support USB-C.

 

Couldn’t care less

 

Apple doesn't care about user preferences. Profit. P-R-O-F-I-T. Profit.

Now, if the poll were to ask which cable would you have to come out of pocket most for, since its proprietary and no one else uses it, yeah they'll take the winner of that poll.

It makes sense to have the USB-C port, since macs sport that lately. But it makes more sense that Apple would stick with lightning or come up with an even more ridiculous proprietary port to rake in more money. I bought a MacBook Air and 13" MacBook Pro recently... spent $150 between the two of them buying adapters. And those were generic knock-offs. The average sheep walks in the apple store and buys whatever they find on the wall.

 

Nope, it will be the lightning cable. I’m very happy to disappoint you!

 

So you are somehow different than the average "sheep" when you buy something from an Apple store? The amount of narcissism and ego in these forums knows no bounds.

 

Nothing wrong with industry-standard when the industry-standard works so well you can't get any meaningful advantage by going your own way. It's always good to push the envelope, but you also have to know when it's simply the best for everyone involved to do something in a way that increases compatibility and ease of use. Having USB C across Apple devices would definitely be a boon to people buying into the ecosystem.

 

I don't care which type of port or combination of ports, but I do want 2 of them!

 

I couldn't care less. If they stay backwards compatible, I have the accessories I need, if they update to the future then it's going to happen sometime anyway.

I'm vaguely concerned about operating a "mixed fleet" of USB-C iPads and lightning iPhones, but whatever. I'll live. Even if they updated the whole line at once, it would still take me a couple years before I upgraded all of my devices.