Not sturdier. 30-pin has fragile pins inside. Thus the name. Lightning has no fragile parts and all connectors are exposed and flush with the plug.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
There should be a 30-pin iPhone 5S.
- Thread starter darkgoob
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Not sturdier. 30-pin has fragile pins inside. Thus the name. Lightning has no fragile parts and all connectors are exposed and flush with the plug.
After reading a few sentences, I had to stop and look at the date of the post to see if it was from September 2012 because there's no way someone logical would be making this post today 
That's cool but they could've made a 30-pin 2.0 that had the same functionality when used with 30-pin 2.0 devices. But it would still have been backwards compatible to 30-pin 1.0.
I am a huge fan of fault-tolerant designs, redundancy, reliability. I'm not criticizing Lightning as a general concept. Had 30-pin never existed, I'd be all about Lightning. If Lightning-to-30-pin adapters were 100% compatible with all Apple stuff and all third-party stuff, I wouldn't be here posting this. If Apple worked better with their third-party hardware MFI developers, you would see a lot more Lightning-native stuff on the market.
But Apple's attitude seems to be, "We don't really care what our customers or third-party partners think or feel. We're going to make the device however we deem is best, regardless of how that meets the needs of our users, because obviously users will realize afterwards they only need what we give them, since we know best."
You're right they didn't promise anything, but then again, it's their own funeral. Look at the drop in profits and market share they are experiencing. You're deluding yourself if you think this attitude of Apple's (the "our way or the highway" attitude) is not costing them marketshare.
If I went to a restaurant and found out they were no longer serving my favorite dish there, and served me some new thing that wasn't as good, then I might complain. And if when I complained they told me that I should consider never coming back to their restaurant, guess what I'd do.
Most customers do not care about Apple. If they buy Apple's products it's because they've found them to be the best ones on the market. If they feel hosed by Apple or screwed over in any way, then as soon as they have the chance, they jump ship. The Android and Windows camps are loving it; they are constantly going after all the areas Apple is falling short on, and just taking in defector after defector.
This "our way or the highway" attitude is costing Apple a ton of business and growth. Any customers who feel "screwed over" by moves like Lightning will not only leave Apple but likely tell all their friends to get Android as well. Many have already left Apple as customers.
Nothing Apple does should be designed to alienate its loyal customers. It should do everything possible to retain customers, not lose them. If I was a manager at Apple, and I detected this sort of arrogant attitude amongst my staff, I'd fire them on the spot, and find engineers who understand that catering to customers' needs and desires is the most important thing.
People buy products to get a solution to a problem. The more of their problems you can solve with a single solution, the more they will love that product. However if that product creates problems for them, they will be less likely to keep it, let alone recommend it to others. It's simple, really.
Innovation is when you create a product that solves new problems and therefore creates a new market and creates new customers. I don't really view Lightning as innovative at all; it does not seem to me that it has expanded the market for the iPhone, and meanwhile, it has reduced the MFI hardware market and alienated some customers. What new customers are brought into the fold by Lightning, who would not have bought an iPhone if it still had the 30-pin connector? Is there anyone who would refuse to buy an iPhone if Lightning ports had never existed? Any of Lightning's advantages are vastly outweighed by its disadvantages, which kills any way in which it might be seen as innovative.
Worse, it's not like they got rid of 30-pin; it's just not built into the phone anymore. You still have to take this stupid $39 adapter with you everywhere if you want to use any of the multitude of accessories that still do not have Lightning versions, or if you want to avoid buying a ton of new USB cables, etc.
I did not get a slimmer phone so I would be forced to keep track of a tiny, expensive accessory cable that could easily get lost. What's the point of a slimmer phone if you then have to carry around an adapter? Not slimmer anymore.
At least with the MacBook Pro, Apple recognized that they had better offer a version that has an optical drive in it, since millions of people still use optical media on a regular basis, despite the skewed bubble perceptions of all of you technogeeks that hang out on Macrumors forums.
----------
I never had a single issue with 30-pin connectors over the years. And I use my stuff pretty hard. I doubt it was just "luck." At any rate, I'd rather replace an occasional broken cable, than have to risk my phone becoming disconnected from my MIDI adapter during a performance because the plug doesn't lock into place, and the 0.2m adapter cable (the only kind that works without removing the case from the phone) leaves the MIDI adapter dangling off into space.
LOL... don't you understand that the purpose of mounting the device onto the speaker is not just to transmit sound, but also, to charge the device? How does it eliminate cables, therefore, to not only have to have the audio system plugged in, but also, to have the phone plugged into the charger as well now? Now you need two power cables, not one.
Once again, Lightning creates a situation that is more complex, requires more adapters and complicated set-up, and takes us farther away from a plug-and-play solution that "just works".
----------
My new phone would be fatter, and my next phone would be fatter. And my phone after that would be fatter.
Apparently, this attitude isn't really driving you away from apple though. Because here you are...
As an Apple shareholder I would like to thank you for your purchase of your new Apple iPhone. Now please, please, please just stop haha.
Apparently, this attitude isn't really driving you away from apple though. Because here you are...
As an Apple shareholder I would like to thank you for your purchase of your new Apple iPhone. Now please, please, please just stop haha.
You know, you can cut the drama. This design decision has the blessing of the CEO of Apple, but was very likely advocated by a number of engineers who had reason to beleive that the existing technology wasn't going to work within the limitations of the smaller and thinner form factors.
More like: we've already had a year to debate the merits of the old connector vs the new. Most have come to the conclusion that, while highly inconvenient, the change in connectors was very likely little more than a shift to accomodate smaller and thinner form factors. It's far less likely that there's any evil conspiracy in Cupertino to force vendors out of business and people out of jobs, or to force millions of users into the poor house because they must buy new accessories.
Fortunately, as has been repeatedly stated to you, Apple still sells and supports the 4S, and you don't have to pay extra for it. However, your statement above clashes with the idea that your REFUSE to return your new phone because the old one will net you $350. So, I guess the net amount of your accessories is less than that? Seems then that you're coming out ahead.
...and there's not a single phone on the market that directly connects to either. Why? Because the connectors are too large and bulky to fit the form factors consumers would like to buy.
Do you have hard data to support this conclusion? It appears Apple is still selling millions of devices with the new connector, at rates higher than the units with the 30-pin. Even you bought one, and seem hell-bent on keeping it despite your diatribes of late.
Yes but how much extra profit will Apple make off each of these 9 million units, via its MFI partners selling third-party accessories for these phones?
How many of those 9 million new iPhone owners will hold off from buying accessories because most of them are still made for the 30-pin port, and they don't want to hassle with annoying, expensive adapters that don't even fit when you have a case on the device?
Hopefully it will spur manufacturers to FINALLY make Lightning-based accessories. But New York Times made it sound like a lot of them felt burned by the Lightning surprise and quit the MFI market altogether. Of course that would tend to open the door for new companies to come in, but, I guess we'll see. I just question how wise of a business move Lightning was for Apple.
If I was Apple (obviously I'm not), I would have had both Lightning and 30-pin ports on the devices for a couple of years. There is plenty of space around the edges of an iPhone or iPad to have both a 30-pin and a Lightning port. With the extra thickness of the device incurred, I'd have built in a higher-capacity battery, since frankly I would greatly prefer extra battery life over a few mm thinner phone.
Otherwise at least offer a new-model phone that has 30-pin port on it somewhere. Honestly I did not suggest that Apple "go back" to 30-pin, and ditch Lightning. I just think they need a better solution than using these dumb adapters.
Consumers like choices. Just having 5S and 5C is not enough choice, IMNSHO. I'm not against new ports and new connectors, but give people an upgrade path that's still fully compatible with the HUGE market of accessories that your profits depend on selling well, without needing annoying and kludgy work-arounds.
----------
I didn't say it was driving me away. I said it was driving other people away, people who don't care as much about Apple as I do. But you don't hear from those people, because they're already gone!
And no, your phones would not be increasingly fatter. You're simply being irrational. And no, I won't "just stop". Don't hate me because I'm right.
I don't hate you at all, I just think you are a moron. That being said, if you decide to go back to the 4S (We all wish you would) please PM me as I would be more than happy to donate all of my old 30 pin cables to you. You could make a big pile of 30 pin cables and have yourself a 30 pin party.
I don't get the OP. We had 30pin connector for a long time. Will changing the connector break things? Of course. But you can't stall technological innovation for the sole purpose of just wanting things to stagnate.
If you want to do that go with blackberry.
If you want to do that go with blackberry.
"Most" accessories are still made for the 30-pin port? How much of that includes the $9.99 rubbish you'll find in a clearance bin soon? Either that or how many of these models are a couple of years old and thus highly discounted? That's what I saw on Amazon -- old stuff.
The lightning connector has been on the flagship iPhone, iPads and iPods for a year now. Maybe Apple should've released some info on the port before the new products were released last year, but it's been a year.
Apple has already sold 9 million of these new iPhones. Add in the tens of millions (more like hundreds of millions) of iOS devices sold in the past year with the Lightning connector, and it's just a moot point.
Even a 30-pin connector doesn't mean something will work perfectly. I have a couple of cheapo docking clock radios with 30-pin. They do NOT charge an iPhone 4 or 4S, but they do play audio.
The lightning connector has been on the flagship iPhone, iPads and iPods for a year now. Maybe Apple should've released some info on the port before the new products were released last year, but it's been a year.
Apple has already sold 9 million of these new iPhones. Add in the tens of millions (more like hundreds of millions) of iOS devices sold in the past year with the Lightning connector, and it's just a moot point.
Even a 30-pin connector doesn't mean something will work perfectly. I have a couple of cheapo docking clock radios with 30-pin. They do NOT charge an iPhone 4 or 4S, but they do play audio.
I know right. I can't believe they don't make a 5S that has a bag phone on the back of it. You know, for when I'm in my car and stuff.
It's almost like what those greedy car companies did when they first came out with all electric cars. Why couldn't they have just added a fuel tank as well for a few years so I could still use a normal gas station. Ugh!
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah/People said all this when USB came out, when HDMI came out, when Mini-USB and Micro-USB came out. People said this when Micro SD and Mini SD cards came out. People said this when Micro and Nano SIMs came out.
If it hadn't been for the wide adoption of USB, we'd still be stuck using serial cables. Same for HDMI, and many others. This isn't a unique isolated issue.
The only comment I agree with from the OP in this entire topic. I would have preferred the same thickness of the iPhone 4/4s to accommodate a larger battery.
I didn't say it was an evil conspiracy ... more like a business blunder that is costing Apple and its shareholders lots of profits, angering customers and driving them away, etc.
I wouldn't have said any of this a year ago, because Lightning had just come out, and nobody knew how it was going to do yet. For all we knew, by Christmas there'd be Lightning versions of all the major accessories. However a year's time affords us a little bit of perspective. Now we can see, even still, the number of Lightning-specific accessories is quite limited. It doesn't look good honestly. I'm just making an observation.
Apple really wants to force the issue of Lightning, just like it wants to force the issue of Thunderbolt with the new Pro.
Maybe this was a calculated move and Apple thought this change in connectors had to be made eventually, and it may hurt for a couple of years, but after that it would be fine. It's not going to have killed Apple, and now they can make things that are thinner. Because y'know, thinness is the most important thing evar!
No I'm coming out with a phone that will require me to take an adapter everywhere, or, not upgrade my phone, which is ridiculous. I didn't get on board with Apple so I could get stuck on an old phone because they refuse to make new devices with the standard port they themselves invented!
It's completely unreasonable to expect people to deprive themselves of major upgrades in performance. People are going to upgrade their phones even if it had no headphones port or anything. Yet if they removed the headphone port, everyone would go ape. Where would all of you people who refer to "8-track tapes" and "Commodore 64" be then? Would you be defending the removal of the headphone port? It's arguably a much older standard type of port compared with the 30-pin connector.
All I'm saying is Apple should make a new phone with a 30-pin connector on it. Why is that so unreasonable to say? They'd sell more 30-pin accessories as a result, which would make them more profit. Do you NOT want Apple to make more profit?
Well, consumers aren't given a choice, now are they? How can you say that consumers would prefer a thinner iPhone to a slightly thicker one with better battery life and better compatibility with all their devices and peripherals?
I bet if you did a survey, you'd find that most people would choose the one with better battery life and not have to purchase expensive new cables and adapters. "How much thicker? Only 1.5mm thicker, but I can use all my old cables AND I get better battery life? Yes please."
I love my 5S in every other respect. The only problems it has are battery life and lack of a 30-pin connector. That's not enough to make me want to go back to a 4S. As I've already said I'll return my Apple Leather Case, and reluctantly get a different case, one that works with the Lightning-to-30-pin adapter. I wish that I didn't have to do that, I really like this case.
But the whole thing made question why in the heck Apple made the Lightning port in the first place. OK, you can make a thinner device, but what's with the obsession of thinness? There's a point at which they will have to stop making it any thinner, you realize that right? It can only get so thin before it would turn into a knife and cut your hand when you hold it. My iPad already feels like that.
There's got to be a point where something is "thin enough." Thinning things down just for the sake of thinning them down makes zero sense. Removing core components in order to accomplish this makes even less sense. Take the iMac for example: why remove the optical drive? Were people really finding the thinness of the iMac to be a deciding factor?
Apple makes more off selling phone accessories and apps, than the other makers make just selling phones. Phone accessories are a huge profit center. I do not think Lightning port has increased iPhone accessory sales. We've seen Apple's profits drop every quarter since its introduction.
All introduced in the last 18 months:
$299 RØDE iXY mic (mounts onto 4S directly)
$999 Mackie DL1608 Mixer (iPad 3 mounts directly inside)
$99, $149 Line6 MobileKeys 25 and 32
$69 iRig MIDI Adapter (mounts onto 4S directly)
$229 Behringer iStudio iS202 (doesn't work with Lightning iPad 4)
(Behringer seemed to cancel their higher end one after Lightning was announced)
Those are just from one area of a niche market, music/audio production. There are many others that had lots of high-end 30-pin products that the device mounts directly into.
Well, Alesis for one has a Lightning option on one of its mixers, and I saw that a couple of new products have finally been announced with Lightning. It's slow going. That's why I think Apple's profits (and sales of all these nice 30-pin accessories) would have been higher had they had both the 30-pin and the Lightning ports on the devices for a couple of years during the transition.
But anyway I'm done arguing about this, I've made my points. Most of you either refuse to see the points I'm making, or are simply here to argue without even reading the posts, of which there are now, far too many. Go ahead and post your responses, but to any intelligent readers, I suggest that you read up, not down. Do your own research into the sales figures, profit margin numbers, and make your own conclusions.
Personally I think Apple could be making a lot more profit per device if they had not ditched 30-pin so abruptly. They would also have better maintained their relationships with the 3rd-party accessory makers who help drive their profits. Perhaps this is a criticism of Apple's highest leadership then, since ultimately I'm sure it was their decision to do this. But it's not intended as spiteful, hateful criticism since hindsight is always 20/20. It's intended as constructive criticism: they could still make new devices with 30-pin AND Lightning for the next 5 years if they wanted to, and if it made their margins higher, why wouldn't they? Isn't it every corporation's job to make the most profit possible?
Just sayin'. If the Mackie 1608 mixer is headed for the bargain bin, though, I'll be excited about that
Cuz I'm not getting rid of my iPad 3!
so then maybe I shouldn't read it so I won't be dumb?
I really didn't read anything, cliffs?
So many things wrong with this post, well, actually all of your posts, but I'll just comment on a few.
1. No, the Lightning connector is not costing Apple anything, 9 million iPhones sold the first weekend, the most ever.
2. Yes, apple is forcing the issue of Lightning, just like they did with the 30-pin, a technology that lasted 10+ years, so yeah, a change was needed.
3. No, Apple shouldn't make a 30-pin iPhone 5 or 5S, if any, it would represent a much bigger cost for Apple, just for making it, new internal design, new components, new production line, and not to say about sales, except you, I don't think any sane person would buy an iPhone with an old technology knowing that the next generation and possibly the next 10 years iPhone will use Lightning.
So, bottom line, if it were up to you we should still be riding horses..