iPhone 12 Was there ever a case for Lightning Cable for iPhone?

[xo.MiA.xo]

I don’t know why everyone is jumping so far into the past bringing up micro usd and such. I believe it’s a pretty reasonable question. I mean why not change everything to usb-c once they introduced it on their products? Then there would be no need for extra dongles or multiple charging cables. What was the reason to keep lighting beyond their usb-c port introduction?

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

The main argument put forward for why Apple should switch to USB-C is because then we'll supposedly be able to use one cable for everything. If you have multiple USB-C cables that you have to manage and switch between for different purposes, how is that better than having a USB-C cable and a lightning cable that you switch between? Wouldn't it be better to have a cable that looks different so you can tell at a glance which is which?

I have more of a hassle with differ charging bricks vs the differ USB-C cords.

In my experience: If any device isn't charging fast enough or at all, it's almost always the charging brick, not the USB-C cable itself. And phone manufacturers don't even include charging bricks anymore. IMO, that's going to be more of a problem than what some are claiming USB-C cords will be.

As I stated in my previous post, the high majority of everyday USB-C cables that are being sold are going to be norm of 3.1. Anything higher than that is hitting thunderbolt 3/4 territory. They run cheap enough that it's not financially beneficial for manufacturers to keep producing 2.0 to 3.0. And anything for external display, the lightning cord couldn't do that anyways.

 

[arw]

What was the reason to keep lighting beyond their usb-c port introduction?

I don't know how valid the "Existing-Lightning-Accessories-Argument" is.
I personally however was glad they stuck to it for so long as I always preferred the smaller footprint of Lightning. Especially for thinner devices like iPod Touch or Nano.

 

[GMShadow]

Size for one, but durability for another. There's no edge connector inside the iPhone to break off with Lightning. 9/10 times when someone comes to me with a port issue, a few minutes with a toothbrush and some light blasts of canned air has them up and running again.

 

[subjonas]

I don’t know why everyone is jumping so far into the past bringing up micro usd and such. I believe it’s a pretty reasonable question. I mean why not change everything to usb-c once they introduced it on their products? Then there would be no need for extra dongles or multiple charging cables. What was the reason to keep lighting beyond their usb-c port introduction?

OP’s question was whether lightning ever needed to exist. I assume OP wasn’t aware of the situation at the time, because it was clearly by far the best phone connector.
Now, yes, it’s arguable.

 

[sorgo †]

View attachment 2104800

Size for one, but durability for another. There's no edge connector inside the iPhone to break off with Lightning. 9/10 times when someone comes to me with a port issue, a few minutes with a toothbrush and some light blasts of canned air has them up and running again.

Thanks for the graph. Although somewhat unrelated, this could help explain why Apple has allegedly decided on the XR’s form factor for the next SE (if it ends up getting USB-C)—the chassis is almost a third of an inch thicker, potentially better suited for a USB-C port.

 

[subjonas]

I have more of a hassle with differ charging bricks vs the differ USB-C cords.

In my experience: If any device isn't charging fast enough or at all, it's almost always the charging brick, not the USB-C cable itself. And phone manufacturers don't even include charging bricks anymore. IMO, that's going to be more of a problem than what some are claiming USB-C cords will be.

As I stated in my previous post, the high majority of everyday USB-C cables that are being sold are going to be norm of 3.1. Anything higher than that is hitting thunderbolt 3/4 territory. They run cheap enough that it's not financially beneficial for manufacturers to keep producing 2.0 to 3.0. And anything for external display, the lightning cord couldn't do that anyways.

But wasn’t the debate regarding which end of the cable that connects to the phone is better? The end that connects to the charging brick can be usbc or usba for either cable, so you can always get any charging brick you want.

 

[subjonas]

View attachment 2104800

Size for one, but durability for another. There's no edge connector inside the iPhone to break off with Lightning. 9/10 times when someone comes to me with a port issue, a few minutes with a toothbrush and some light blasts of canned air has them up and running again.

Lightning definitely had it all (other than being proprietary). Now I wonder if theoretically Apple made a new lightning connector that was as robust as usbc, so that it could handle all the same throughputs, what that would look like. I’d imagine it would be at least bigger than it is now.

 

[21Southwick]

Was there ever a convincing argument for Lightning cable for iPhone?

My own opinion is that Apple did this because they could; nothing more.

I have been put off updating my iPhone until USB-C is introduced; I suspect that there are others in a similar mindset.

I find it frustrating that I have two types of charger for my MBA M1 and iPhone 12.

I don't know that you remember or were around when there wasn't a lightning cable. Having to find the "right end up" of mini usb (then later micro usb) or the challenges of the large 30 pin connector made things awful for other electronics. Apple really made things "just work" with the lightning cable. Plus the extra pins carried data, audio, and controller features not available on traditional standards at the time. Lightning was by far much more advanced.
The second thing many people don't understand is that Lightning in many ways was the inspiration for USB-C. It has been rumored that since Apple worked with Intel to develop the Thunderbolt (originally called Light Peak) standard (which would later become part of USB-C and officially USB4) that Apple had a hand in designing USB-C and helping to make it a standard. I don't believe there is definitive proof but it makes sense since Apple was the first company to adopt Thunderbolt 1, 2, 3, and 4 into their main computers then tablets. Then they moved to add USB-C to the less powerful iPads. The iPhone was the holdout. Perhaps it was a "control" thing or perhaps their customer base had so many lightning cables in the world that Apple was pushing for wireless charging through MagSafe rather than a cable solution. Can't know for certain.

 

[theluggage]

As I already posted, USB-C is a port only. The cables are built to many different protocols and they are often incompatible.

There's no single cable spec, but there are standards.

Any compliant USB-C cable has to support at least basic power delivery and USB 2.0 - so any USB cable will trickle charge your phone and allow basic data transfer.

The EU directive is also tackling the issue of proprietary "fast charging" systems - and requiring all manufacturers to use the various tiers of the USB Power Delivery protocol.

The complexity and tangle of standards is what you get with a multi-purpose connector - I really don't like it on desktop/laptop computers which have plenty of space for dedicated power, display and data ports - but phones and tablets only have physical space for one or two connectors, so a multipurpose port (& dongle fun) are unavoidable. USB-C was designed around the time when the industry was convinced that the future was all-mobile. It was needed on phones (microUSB was a mess) but on laptops and desktops it was a solution looking for a problem.

It's bizarre that Apple forced "USB-C for everything" on their laptops before it was ready (and offered little or no performance advantage over MagSafe, USB 3 and DisplayPort) and took so long to use it on mobile devices (and don't get started on Magic peripherals, ATV remotes etc.

With iPad Pros and high-end iPhones increasingly being pushed as "serious" photo and video devices & able to make use of USB 3.2/USB 4/TB bandwidth, Lightning is due for replacement

 

[theluggage]

I have found that the Lightning cable needed replacing alot more than USB-C cables, even with my being ultra-careful with usage.

Apple go a bit form-over-function on their cables with ultra-tiny connector bodies (so you're more likely to pull them out by the cable) and minimal strain relief sleeves. Apple cables always feel softer and more flexible than other cables - which is nice, and feels high end - as long as all the plasticiser additives don't leech out and they go brittle.

I don't have that much problem with Apple cables - but others obviously do and I wonder if it's something to do with local climate: sunlight (very bad for many plastics), temperature, humidity (use of Air Conditioning)?

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

OP’s question was whether lightning ever needed to exist. I assume OP wasn’t aware of the situation at the time, because it was clearly by far the best phone connector.
Now, yes, it’s arguable.

I haven't had any issues with lightning cables from a several years now. But before that, the quality of lightning cables were horrendous. There was a point it was so bad, the Apple Store used to give out replacements for free. I think that is a huge factor why many users couldn't stand the lightning cables.

 

[subjonas]

I haven't had any issues with lightning cables from a several years now. But before that, the quality of lightning cables were horrendous. There was a point it was so bad, the Apple Store used to give out replacements for free. I think that is a huge factor why many users couldn't stand the lightning cables.

That might be, and while related, I think that’s more of a side issue from OP’s question. OP wanted to know why the lightning connector existed.