The iPhone 14 Is Unlikely to Be Portless, Here's Why

[4jasontv]

I wouldn't dispute your own first-hand experience. And I don't know where you bought your Lightning cables from. I've been using mine for years - but bought well-made ones.

As for the charging ports on Apple devices themselves, I believe most Apple Service providers or technicians can attest that the failure rate for USB-C ports (such as on Apple notebooks) is higher than the failure rate of Lightning ports on iPhones.

A broken cable is a 20$ replacement. A charging port on a phone however means (meant, before the advent of MagSafe/Qi charging) an unusable device worth hundreds of dollars - with your data on it.

I agree with you, on paper. USB C should, by its design, have more port related failures. No argument with that.

But, cable failure rates are still relevant. I almost exclusively purchased Anker cables from Amazon and Walmart. Otherwise I got Apple cables direct. I suspect the differences in experiences come from two different but reasonable methods of using the device. If you use it frequently while plugged in the location and size of the plug promotes pressure being applied to the cable plug interface.

This isn’t a ‘stop doing that’ situation. It’s a design flaw. The product should be made such that it’s handled in a predictable way, and issues like this should be predicted and solved during development. The easiest solution is to allow the phone to be used upside down. Since that isn’t an option the weight of the phone will be balanced on the cable and the stress will be applied to the first point of weakness, the cable plug interface. When holding the phone in landscape the cable will be bent 180 to be moved out of the way of your palm. Not all apps allow landscape in either direction so one handed grips are not a universal solution.

 

[jtdx99]

Safe to say if it's fully wireless, I won't be buying it. Wireless charging is a pain, it's slow and degrades the battery health quicker than traditional wired charging.

 

[Reason077]

iPhone 14 will be an instant buy for me if it has USB-C.

If it’s Lightning again? I’d have to think twice. Feels like I’d be buying in to a dying standard that will become less and less common in the coming years.

 

[Reason077]

Safe to say if it's fully wireless, I won't be buying it. Wireless charging is a pain, it's slow and degrades the battery health quicker than traditional wired charging.

Plus the chargers are more bulky and more expensive. You’re more likely to get caught out if you forget a charger while travelling while the rest of the industry is still standardized on USB-C.

 

[reallynotnick]

Because my iPhone thermal throttle hard when transferring data in high speed while using cellular connection, or just downloading tons of stuff over extended period using wifi?

It's more likely an issue with your router or ISP throttling you. WiFi should not cause thermal throttling.

 

[metapunk2077fail]

Let's hope they've moved away from the philosophy that subtle appearance queues are far more important that almost every mode of normal phone use.

Then again, the biggest issue is there's no "users" at Apple anymore. I still remember when Craig Federighi unveiled on stage that iPads with USB could finally use external storage devices. He added, "I'm an Airdrop guy myself, but...", as if to emphasize "I personally have no idea why anyone would need USB drives." Really, Craig? You'd like to try to stream a 2 terabyte BluRay movie by initiating an Airdrop transfer of the movie file to your phone at bluetooth speeds?

I suppose he meant for file sharing between computers most people use Airdrop, network file sharing and cloud file sharing.

I remember a time when we used to give a hard drive or CD to a courier to deliver across town. Hell one client did that to me two years ago because they didn't want to upload 50GB. They figured it was faster to send a courier but they paid probably 50 bucks for it.

 

[wigby]

It's not as if nobody will make wireless charging cables and accessories - and they use way more components and raw materials than a standard Lightning cable.

What does a wireless charging cable look like exactly? Air?

 

[CASMAS]

At least iPhone Pro require a fast connection for ProRes videos.

 

[Tagbert]

How much of the world's power consumption will go to efficiency losses from wireless charging?

How much of the electricity you use in a day goes into your phone?

Because there are so many phones, it does add up, but just doing little things like changing light bulbs, turning off the television, caulking windows, and lowering the thermostat have a much bigger impact.

 

[ja']

and mostly pointless

to each their own, but imo getting closer to this futuristic single-sheet-of-glass kind of hardware with no ports and no buttons isn't pointless. it's cool and futuristic. ? hopefully true haptics can be a thing soon, such that the volume buttons, power button, keyboard, etc. could all have dynamic protrusions.

 

[I7guy]

[…]
.

This isn't just me, it's everyone in my household and our friends and families. It happened with iPhones and the old iPads. Lightning cables die with enough regularity that it's cheaper to buy MagSafe chargers, USB C extension cords and pay more for electricity than to deal with the frustrating wired connection.

No doubt wireless charging saves ports and cables. However for us, friends and family lightning cables have been rock solid. Sure abused cables show wear faster…and this happens to electric cords as well.

USB C however has been spot on. […]

Already replaced some USB C cables. My point is cable wear is anecdotal.

 

[PortoMavericks]

The iPhone now shoots in ProRes and all they think is "lIgHtNiG hAs BeTtEr wAtErPrOoFiNg".

2022 and the iPhone still only transfers files at USB 2.0 speeds.

 

[ingik]

How would a portless phone work with my Wierd Carplay?

 

[SalisburySam]

iPhone 14 will be an instant buy for me if it has USB-C.

If it’s Lightning again? I’d have to think twice. Feels like I’d be buying in to a dying standard that will become less and less common in the coming years.

I don’t have inside information, but I really think you’ll be doing the “think twice” dance on this issue.

 

[Mr. Heckles]

Problem for me and so many others is that swapping out the radio isn't really an option. Most car manufactures have the entertainment system so integrated into he dash that it's just not possible.

I was worried about this and I found radios that will work with Toyota at least (all the extra settings for Toyota). If there is a will, there is a way. It just might not be cheap.

 

[Mr. Heckles]

How would a portless phone work with my Wierd Carplay?

There are aftermarket stuff that will let you do this.

 

[Alex 88]

Apple could perhaps satisfy the European Commission by adopting USB-C

Perhaps they will do this, starting with Pro models?

 

[mikegoldnj]

Well, people who wear the watch on their right wrist will cover the screen with their left wrist as they twist/press the crown; as opposed to it being a bezel gesture equally accessible from either side of the watch. This could have been avoided with something that didn't need to be a physical button on only one side of the watch. As far as features changing, there haven't really been long-term issues with the home-button becoming a gesture.

You know you can set up the watch so that that doesn’t happen, right?

 

[I7guy]

I bet tons of US users begging Apple to leave every single market except theirs so they could brag about iPhone exclusivity again since 2007.

Android would then be a boneified monopoly.

 

[4jasontv]

No doubt wireless charging saves ports and cables. However for us, friends and family lightning cables have been rock solid. Sure abused cables show wear faster…and this happens to electric cords as well.

Already replaced some USB C cables. My point is cable wear is anecdotal.

My point is that wireless, even if only MagSafe, has superior durability to cables.

My USB C devices don't need to be charged nearly as often as our iPhones, so they will always see more use. But that's sort of the point. Why continue to support a connection with a higher failure rate when alternatives exist.

 

[bobcomer]

iPhone 14 will be an instant buy for me if it has USB-C.

If it’s Lightning again? I’d have to think twice. Feels like I’d be buying in to a dying standard that will become less and less common in the coming years.

It really wouldn't matter to me one way or another as long as Apple puts some kind of recovery mode on the iPhone that can work over wifi. I hate lightning because the ports get gunked up and non function in not too long a time, I hate USBc because the connectors get loose and flakey.

Some kind of sealed magnetic interface would be good for data or charging.

 

[I7guy]

“for a clean and streamlined device…”

?

What’s the endgame with BS like that?

Are iPhones for lying on the desktop and inspiring users into dreamlike trances over its sleekness? Or for convenient use?

Both. This is apple we are talking about.

iPhones already are photoshoot-ready jewelry-like streamlined pieces of art way too fragile to be used in the wild without a case. How much more streamlining do we really need? And a more challenging question: And why?

Apple never asks and why.

When’s the last time someone ran into usability issues over the existence of volume/power buttons, or wished they were less easy to reach by feel only, or had less direct confirmation when pressed?

I’m sure there are a few.

Users needed something new on their nearly-perfect mobile device’s screen and we get the ios7 hot mess (that’s been slowly back-stepped towards intuitive, efficient interface design).

Else we would be looking a faux wood paneling everywhere.

Users wanted zero bezels and we got the silly notch (that removes real estate up top for various key status icons).

Silly notch sold like hotcakes.

Users wanted thinner, lighter, sleeker, and we got the escape-keyless butterfly keyboard with usb-c-only MacBooks (that’s been back-stepped to Magic Keyboard MacBooks with escape-keys and more useful, convenient ports).

At some point it’s ok to put the pencil down and stop adding by removal. This is a potential mistake I never hope comes to fruition.



(thankfully, yet sadly) THIS!

 

[I7guy]

My point is that wireless, even if only MagSafe, has superior durability to cables.

I think I agreed that wireless charging saves cables, for obvious reasons , at the expense of efficiency.

My USB C devices don't need to be charged nearly as often as our iPhones,

I use my usb c devices much less than my iPhones.

so they will always see more use. But that's sort of the point. Why continue to support a connection with a higher failure rate when alternatives exist.

Lightning doesn’t have a higher failure rate, unless it’s your anecdotal observation.

 

[CyberGene]

you could just use the wireless adapter for doing the same thing.

it's like people here are somehow thinking Apple will altogether remove the ability to charge and transfer data, lol.

Do you mean some hypothetical wireless adapter? I'm not aware of one that exists that would allow for wireless transfer of uncompressed USB audio that will be synced to the video (eliminating the latency). As a matter of fact, Apple were struggling to implement lossless audio transfer in their AirPods AFAIK.

 

[4jasontv]

I think I agreed that wireless charging saves cables, for obvious reasons , at the expense of efficiency.

I use my usb c devices much less than my iPhones.

Lightning doesn’t have a higher failure rate, unless it’s your anecdotal observation.

It's not just anecdotal observation. It's well documented and reported that Apple lighting cables fail for reasons that are different from USB C.