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"Buyers are forbidden from updating or erasing the iPhone, opening it up, or using it as a daily phone. So far, the bidding has exceeded $800."

So... I can buy something from you, take ownership of it... but I can't do what I want with it? The seems almost the same as buying a standard iPhone from Apple. ?
Software, music, and movies do this all the time so why wouldn't it also apply to hardware? ;)

I used to be in the "stop whining, Lightning is awesome" camp with regard to calls for USB in everything. Then I traveled and was annoyed every single time I had to dig around for the USB to USB cable (iPad) vs. USB to Lightning (iPhone). Let it go, Apple, FFS. If you wanted Lightning to be ubiquitous, you should have given it away.
Two points.
1. Lighting was awesome. It was much better than anything else until USB C came along. And, in some ways it still is.
2. Apple didn't want it to be ubiquitous. They wanted the revenue associated with 'Made for iPhone" accessories.
 
USB-C is so much worse than lightning. Why would anyone want to trade. I could understand if the USB-C dudes wanted to swap to lightning tho :)
 
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I didn't mind lighting, since I purchased so many spare cables... but ever since I got me an iPad Pro (in addition to my MacBook Pro, both USB-C charged) the iPhone lighting port seems to be the black sheep in the family... I guess it will be less flamboyant once I go back in time and regress to MagSafe on the MacBook... 3 different charging ports again... ?
 
If this brilliant student can do it… why can’t you Apple?
They can but they won't make money from USB-C.

However, since they own lightning, they make approximately $4 on each MFi certified accesory sold.

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Software, music, and movies do this all the time so why wouldn't it also apply to hardware? ;)
Because you don't actually buy the software/music/movies themselves, you only pay for the right to use them. Paying for a song gives you the right to listen to it, but doesn't make you its owner.
Whereas buying a piece of hardware makes you its legal owner.
 
Actually it’s probably not what you think. I’m betting you’re thinking Apple simply wants to promote its MFI program. That’s utter nonsense since the proceeds from that program are a rounding error for Apple. They wouldn’t notice if the program went to zero revenue. They’re not changing it because there are 1.5 billion Lightning iPhones out there, many of them with Lightning accessories. There are a fraction of those iPhone users who have other Apple products, and most of those are consumers with Lightning products like AirPods or older iPads. They’re resisting changing the iPhone port because there are so many people with Lightning now. They’d get pushback except from YouTubers and tech geeks if they went USB-C. Not everybody’s in the techie crowd. Normies want Lightning because it works with what they have. If Apple sees that changing, then they’ll switch ports. They don’t change things without a compelling reason. For example, the last two Beats products came out with USB-C because they want to expand to the Android market. Hardly anyone there has anything Lightning. Note Apple branded AirPods remain Lightning.

Personally, I saw zero reason for Apple to change to USB-C on iPhones until they created the ProRes video capability of the Pro phones. With transfer speeds being affected, there now is a compelling reason to go to Thunderbolt, not USB-C. For that one reason only, they should change the port, but only for the Pros unless they expand the ability to shoot in ProRes on their non-Pro phones, which I doubt they will do since ProRes is a professional format. The non-Pros should remain Lightning for the reasons I mentioned above.

As a techie myself, I have all sorts of Lightning and USB-C items so it doesn’t bother me what ports Apple uses because I always bring one cable for all items, so I can charge everything simultaneously. At home, everything that can charges wirelessly. Whether it’s USB-C or Lightning, I have the cables and will bring one specifically for my iPhone. But the iPhone 13 Pro was the first time I ever thought Apple actually has a reason to switch.

The ecosystem/walled garden of lighting accessories, that you mention, is a self-made predicament. Both by Apple and its users who invested in it (including myself). Yet you seem to defend Apple.

Apple is not an NGO. Each fraction of a dollar counts when you’re a company this big. Nothing is to stay if it doesn’t generate any profits.

Maybe you are right and it is a rounding error now. But it wasn’t back then, when they’ve launched Lightning to move away from another proprietary connector: the 30-pin. Remember the move from 30-pin to lightning? People weren’t happy either. Thing is: both standards are proprietary.

Do I have to mention the margins made on accessories? Minus distribution, manufacturing and development you have MFI profits. Still a win by my calculations.

Maybe lightning would have been what usb-c is today, if Apple made it an open standard after 2y of its launch. But I won’t join in beating a dead horse here.

It’s not like USB-C is not a mess right now… but there are reasons why many people keep on waiting for them to ditch their connector. Open-standards are the future.
 
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Don’t forget that lightening is also more durable (port side). This is a major benefit for most non-tech savvy users. I do agree with your general point. Most iPhone users would look at USB-C as an inconvenience not an upgrade.
It’s too late to praise lightning over usb-c.

I prefer lightning too, but they wanted to keep it a closed standard for too long. The industry and the users moved on.
 
Does not look like an iPhone will ever come with a USB C port. Port less iPhone seems to be the future.
I hate to say, it’s not a near future.
Similar to Qi it’s not energy efficient and you’ll always have a higher level of transfer errors to account for, which again is less efficient than a direct connection from device to device.

There are studies out there indicating that if every single user of a phone would switch to wireless charging the entire load on the world’s energy grid would make it collapse. It’s possible that wireless data transfer is less impactful but it’s likely Apple would combine it with charging so it would remain a problematic move, both environmentally and politically.

We need better energy infrastructure to be ready when the true wireless future is here.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come with extra tumors.
 
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People here fail to realize that the average consumer will complain greatly if they have to buy new cables and accessories again.
The average consumer does not buy a new iPhone every year. They’ll be fine once they switch to a new phone with usb-c. And it’s cheaper. We all went through this at some point.
 
The tech feat is cool, but the auction is a laugh. Already >$3200?? For a 64GB iPhone X you can’t really use. “A true piece of collection…” Really? Did Apple make it? Was it found behind Woz’s couch? No, it’s a tinkerer’s pet project that may brick itself if you make a second phone call. Pass.
 
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So let me get this straight, a guy who modded an iPhone, sells the iPhone, and is trying to restrict the new owner from exercising his or her right to repair that phone? If he bought the same phone under the terms that he’s trying to sell it under, then there’d be no ability to install usb-c port in the phone in the first place.

Is he worse than Apple in that regard?

Why would anyone bid on such a thing anyways? $800.00 for an old iPhone X is scalper prices. And it might be bid up even more.
 
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So let me get this straight, a guy who modded an iPhone, sells the iPhone, and is trying to restrict the new owner from exercising his or her right to repair that phone?
No, if I read it correctly he's not trying to restrict the new owner (he couldn't anyway, even if he wanted to). He's just saying that he will only guarantee that the phone will work as long as you don't do any of those things.
 
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So why does the designer of this saying the buyer can’t use it as a daily iPhone?
I don't know. Maybe he knows that the phone won't be able to sustain heavy use, possibly due to some hardware changes that he had to make to install the USB-C port. Or maybe he just wants to avoid taking the responsibility for its failure in case someone relies on it for some extremely important task (like, say, having to call 911 in a life-threatening situation and failing because the phone didn't work).
 
Absolutely. The fact a lightening jack is practically indestructible is often ignored. There is nothing preventing lightening to USB 3.2 or higher throughput. I still feel that 4k video transfers over wire from an iPhone is a niche case. But it is one of the few that would benefit to the higher performance transfers. I’m assuming that we’ll see that soon via improved SoC developments. That way it doesn’t require any additional chips.

One potential problem is cable capacity. They could up the transfer rate but if that requires a cable or accessory designed for it then people will be upset they can't get those rates with current accessories.

Apple earns a license fee for every 3rd party accessory that uses the lightning connector. Thats why.

The fee is probably a rounding error for Apple vs. having accessories that work.
 
Because you don't actually buy the software/music/movies themselves, you only pay for the right to use them. Paying for a song gives you the right to listen to it, but doesn't make you its owner.
Whereas buying a piece of hardware makes you its legal owner.
Sounds arbitrary.
 
they really need to support USB 3 transfer speeds or come up with another solution to get those massive ProRES video files off the iPhone and on to a Mac.

It seems obvious, but many defend Apple's choice to stick with USB 2 as if being slow serves a higher purpose.
 
So let me get this straight, a guy who modded an iPhone, sells the iPhone, and is trying to restrict the new owner from exercising his or her right to repair that phone? If he bought the same phone under the terms that he’s trying to sell it under, then there’d be no ability to install usb-c port in the phone in the first place.

Is he worse than Apple in that regard?

Why would anyone bid on such a thing anyways? $800.00 for an old iPhone X is scalper prices. And it might be bid up even more.
Chillax. You can do what you want. He’s just warning you that if you screw it up it’s not his problem.
 
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