Video Shows New Lightning Cable with Reversible USB Connector in Action

[Millah]

Apple already has problems with their cables continually falling apart at the slightest sign of duress.

I'm curious to know what people think is going to happen with this new USB connector now that Apple has removed half the support material from the inside to facilitate the reversible feature. Hint: it's going to behave like all their other cables. The moment you abuse it or bump it in the wrong way, it's going to snap or fracture and fail.

I'm sure they'll be heralded for their "revolutionary thinking" on this one, but there was a reason why USB cables were built they way they were. I would much rather a standard plug with an indent on the top or something else you can feel (to determine which way is up) then a cable that will be twice as fragile and probably cost twice as much to replace as well.

How is it that I have my first lightning cable from 2 years ago still in pristine condition? Oh, because I don't just yank the cord itself and actually grab the white plug end to pull it out from the device.

Is it that hard to ask people to be just a tad more mindful of their belongings? Especially if you already KNOW the cable will fray easily, that's even more of a reason to avoid abusing it. Instead, people just have this self centered attitude of "I'm going to keep doing it anyway because how dare Apple not create cables that can be folded and yanked and not tear"

 

[allanfries]

So, I guess some can't manage the art of plugging a USB in?? LOL
I'd sooner see a more solidly built lightning cable available, something worthy of a limited lifetime warranty perhaps??? In the past 7 years I've never had a 30-pin or lightning cable malfunction in any way. (actually any cable) But I'd welcome something indestructable. I'm sure most would agree.

 

[Brian Y]

What makes me laugh is that this would have been possible from the start with current cables, but the USB group chose to design it a different way.

 

[PowerBook-G5]

The fingernail does NOT look legit.

And I never understood the problem with putting USB cables in the plug upside down. Just look at the little marking on the top of it and then plug it in.

 

[Jobs, Steve]

I think it's FAKE too.
Too fast to show "how it works", disappear of hand/cable, and look like the usb inserted at end (just looking through the holes) has the connector on the bottom, like a normal usb.

For me, 2 fast 2 fake

 

[Dilster3k]

I'm disappointed guys, I was expecting a sex joke somewhere here.

 

[peterdevries]

And I never understood the problem with putting USB cables in the plug upside down. Just look at the little marking on the top of it and then plug it in.

So, I guess some can't manage the art of plugging a USB in?? LOL

The arrogance of some people to think their situation applies to all.

1. there are enough cases where USB ports are not visually accessible, making a reversible plug sensible.
2. just because something does not seem to be a problem to you, it is not a reason to not improve a design.

 

[Trius]

We still do not know if it works with old USB 3.0 we cannot see anything on that video - no USB connector close picture to see did they use old or new type of receptacle

It works with all USB.

 

[afd]

looking at the pictures of these cables, existing USB cables and sockets I would say the new plugs wouldn't be reversible. There doesn't seem to be enough space in an existing plug for a centre section that would leave enough space either side for the tongue in the socket. Until there is more information about the dimensions of the new plug or details of the mechanics of a moving centre section, I won't believe this is a reversible plug that fits existing USB sockets.
But, like I said, I've only looked I haven't measured, so I might be wrong.

 

[AndyUnderscoreR]

What's the deal with so many people being convinced it's not real?

If you're going to pick something to irrationally deny despite plenty of evidence, why go for a USB connector instead of the usual options of climate change denial, or holocaust denial?

 

[rols]

I keep thinking Apple CarPlay is going to nowhere if Apple keeps changing the connection port every two years.

They haven't changed it. It's still the exact same lightning connector it's been for the last two years at the device end.

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My question is, how does the swaping of the pins work when you flip it over? Since the ground and positive pins swap places and the same for the data pins, does the plug's "tongue" have the pins wired so the top and bottom of the pins are opposite? Or is t controlled by the chip in the liturning end of the cable? Or another new chip?

yes the connectors/pins on one side are separate from the ones on the other side and wired the opposite way around so whichever way you insert it you get the right signals on the right wire.

 

[joueboy]

Quality Cable

Don't get me wrong I am too excited for this, simple solution to a common problem and frustration we deal every now and then. But we all know that if anything about the cable that Apple needs to improve is the QUALITY. I used to remember the old cable for the classic iPods are way better when it comes to quality. This shows that Apple is really milking and taking advantage of us.

 

[69Mustang]

I think it's FAKE too.
Too fast to show "how it works", disappear of hand/cable, and look like the usb inserted at end (just looking through the holes) has the connector on the bottom, like a normal usb.

For me, 2 fast 2 fake

FAKE FAKE FAKE.... when he "Flips" the cable, the cable disappears off the camera veiw then reappears "Flipped" and is plugged... yes there is no USB image on the other side but pretty easy to find a third party cable without one of these, I would like to see the poster of this vid show the end of the cable as this is a crock of ****...

Fake video

If your entire knowledge of a subject is based on parsing an 11 sec video, you get comments like these. If you read the OP and realize reversible USB connectors are ALREADY on sale, you can easily suspend your disbelief. As a matter of fact, practically anyone in this forum (from the US) can leave their homes, go to a Staples or Office Depot and grab a reversible USB connector and test if for themselves. In as little as 30 minutes you can see what it's all about. The technology is not new. A cursory google search could have helped avoid your confusion.

http://www.staples.com/reversible+usb+connector/directory_reversible+usb+connector?

But who can use the reversible USB right now?! Nobody.. All usual USB connectors are non-reversable - so, doe snot matter we will have a cable with reversible - it will not fit the 3.0 connectors .. And Apple will push us to buy an additional adapter - USB 3.0 --> USB 3.1

Who can use the reversible USB? Everyone. The female receptacle doesn't change. Right now the product on the market is 2.0 but USB 3.0 is backwards compatible with it.

 

[Erastopic]

Geez people!

The new reversible USB cable will work even with the oldest USB ports out there. This does not change anything other than to let you put in the cable whatever way you want without having to have the USB sign up.

It's still the standard Lightning connector that showed up with iPhone 5 and Apple has probably no plans to change that in a long while.

Search it up on YouTube. There are plenty of demonstrations where you will see that the new reversible cable works with any kind of USB port.

USB ports is such a common thing that Apple (or any other company) would never change that. Unless they want to lose alot of money.

 

[NachoGrande]

Long pinky nail so it must be true

 

[carjakester]

first try every try!

 

[anubis72]

Long pinky nail so it must be true

Look closer...it's the ring finger. Also, still true.

 

[rols]

looking at the pictures of these cables, existing USB cables and sockets I would say the new plugs wouldn't be reversible. There doesn't seem to be enough space in an existing plug for a centre section that would leave enough space either side for the tongue in the socket. Until there is more information about the dimensions of the new plug or details of the mechanics of a moving centre section, I won't believe this is a reversible plug that fits existing USB sockets.
But, like I said, I've only looked I haven't measured, so I might be wrong.

You can download the USB spec, they have drawings with measurements, I just looked at them. In the Type "A" receptacle the tongue fills exactly 1/2 of it, the bottom edge, where the connectors are, lies exactly on the vertical centerline of the socket.

The board on the end of the plug can be between .38mm and .51mm thick and sits below the plug tongue when connected. So if the plug has a completely central tongue which is a full .51mm thick it would have to bend by 0.255 mm to slide underneath. That is around 2 degrees of bend, less if the plug tongue goes extra far into the plug and only even that if the socket were entirely rigid and kept the plug absolutely perpendicular. Mine (unscientifically) slop up and down a few degrees.

The socket tongue has a .38mm chamfer on it at a minimum angle of 28 degrees, the plug tongue also has a chamfer of the same angle, that's enough to guide one piece under the other.

I doubt it will be frictionless, but there's certainly enough room on the standard Type "A" socket as specified by USB to have a thin, central tongued reversible plug make contact with a small bend of the tongue.

Also worth pointing out is that any design which carries the USB mark must pass insertion, holding and removal force tests as well as contact resistance and capacitance tests to ensure the connection is good.

Figures 6-7 (page 95), 6-9 (page 99) USB revision 2.0 spec.

 

[sethlution]

let's hope it doesn't cost 29.99. My 4th gen iPad lightning cable will probably die on me soon (keeping getting unauthorised accessory warning even though it's a genuine cable) so this will be a good buy

 

[saha-med]

How is it that I have my first lightning cable from 2 years ago still in pristine condition? Oh, because I don't just yank the cord itself and actually grab the white plug end to pull it out from the device.

Is it that hard to ask people to be just a tad more mindful of their belongings? Especially if you already KNOW the cable will fray easily, that's even more of a reason to avoid abusing it. Instead, people just have this self centered attitude of "I'm going to keep doing it anyway because how dare Apple not create cables that can be folded and yanked and not tear"

Not only yanking the cord, curling up the cord for storage, moving the cord while plugged in (due to slight jerkiness which occurs at the connector-cable joint), basically any slot of slight tension causes fraying problems in the long run (2-3 months).

A simple google search will show you lightning cable fraying seems to be a very common phenomenon. Only in macrumors I have seen ppl defending their oh-sooo-precious company and their products by pushing the blame to users, something jobs was also good at doing.

 

[M-O]

Image

Apple, please

I highly doubt Apple will go back to the 30-pin dock connector.

 

[peterdevries]

Only in macrumors I have seen ppl defending their oh-sooo-precious company and their products by pushing the blame to users, something jobs was also good at doing.

It doesn't have anything to do with that. If indeed the majority of users would have problems with fraying there would already be a class action lawsuit in planning. In addition peope are more likely to complain about problems and do this on the internet than to sing praise of standard items working as advertised. NATURALLY you are more likely to read about problems with the cable than about people having no issues with it.

If you would do a global poll of people having fraying problems than you would find that only a very tiny percentage of all lightning cable users has this problem.

 

[repoman27]

Considering that the NAND chips in the iPhone and other smart phones dont even come close to saturating usb 2.0, you might want to rethink that Maxx.

USB 2.0 tops out at 40 MB/s on a good day. The sequential read speeds of current generation smartphones, on the other hand, look like this:



Granted sequential writes are still in the 10-30 MB/s range, but for tethered backups and photo syncing, SuperSpeed USB would provide a considerable benefit. The flash memory controllers in smartphones are also tuned more for small random reads to help prevent OS and application loading from bogging down. Mobile flash memory tuned for camera applications is capable of much higher sequential write speeds, like these babies:

 

[noob17]

Video showing it syncing an iPhone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-HzbsJD2Ns

Video of the cable being used with current gen iPhone.

 

[peterdevries]

let's hope it doesn't cost 29.99. My 4th gen iPad lightning cable will probably die on me soon (keeping getting unauthorised accessory warning even though it's a genuine cable) so this will be a good buy

In this case you could be eligible for a replacement. Just go to an Apple store and get one.