You’re complaining about the 16e having usb 2. You can solve that by buying an iPhone with usb 3. No iPhone has thunderbolt.
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Other Will iPhone 14 be USB 2.0? Probably, since Cook is mediocre.
- Thread starter ThomasJL
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Yep, and it’s a perfectly reasonable decision made by Apple to keep the price down.
If you’re taking a lot of videos you’re probably not buying the 16e. Not because of USB 2.0 but the lackluster camera that’s meant for people who just want to take pictures or family videos, but aren’t that serious about it.
Every company makes products for different purposes. What you’re asking for is available on the Pro models. Complaining about the iPhone 16 not having USB connectivity is like complaining that you can’t tow your 30’ RV with the new 2025 Toyota Corolla. People that buy a Toyota Corolla aren’t intending on towing an RV.
And even if you’re taking lots of videos, for the vast majority of people they are getting transferred wirelessly, making the physical connection speed a moot point.
My iPhone has usb 3. It never gets plugged in to transfer anything as it goes via iCloud.
I think people that are taking home videos of their family and stuff are sharing them wirelessly but I suspect professionals that are doing editing on a Mac are doing it wired. I suspect wired would still be faster and if you’re on a production deadline, speed is important.
Absolutely, but those people will have a usb 3 iPhone because it’s what will meet their needs.
Not every iPhone needs to have usb 3 as most people don’t need it.
Very true. The last iPhone I did anything other than charge with a USB cable was my iPhone 5. Before that it was with my iPod to transfer music. Now everything is wireless and I’ll never go back!
The latest Pro and Pro Max iPhones 15 and 16 seem to have at least 10 Gbps what is USB 3.1 Gen 2 or 3.2 Gen 2. That's at least double the speed than standard USB 3.0 with 5 Gbps.
I don't know the difference between 3.1 and 3.2 it has maybe to do with charging. Apple is writing only USB 3 and the speed.
I always was convinced my current iPhone had the current USB standard speed at least with my 6 and 6s Plus I thought they had 3.0. I did synching and backup via cable and wondered why it is so slow.
But then in 2016 the iPad Pro came and was the first USB 3.0 Lightning device. Before I never thought about it not beeing 3.0 for everything at least until 2013.
I was convinced again that every iPhone after that also has USB 3.0 and was very disappointed when I found out my expensive 8 Plus only had USB 2.0.
But then in 2016 the iPad Pro came and was the first USB 3.0 Lightning device. Before I never thought about it not beeing 3.0 for everything at least until 2013.
I was convinced again that every iPhone after that also has USB 3.0 and was very disappointed when I found out my expensive 8 Plus only had USB 2.0.
The iPhone 17 and iPhone Air were both announced today, and Apple officially confirmed that both of those will only have USB 2.0:
Tim Cook is insulting customers by doing that. But he doesn't care.
Buy iPhone 17
Get $40 - $700 off a new iPhone 17 when you trade in an iPhone 8 or newer. 0% financing available. Learn more at apple.com.
www.apple.com
Tim Cook is insulting customers by doing that. But he doesn't care.
The iPhone 17 and iPhone Air were both announced today, and Apple officially confirmed that both of those will only have USB 2.0:
Buy iPhone 17
Get $40 - $700 off a new iPhone 17 when you trade in an iPhone 8 or newer. 0% financing available. Learn more at apple.com.www.apple.com
Tim Cook is insulting customers by doing that. But he doesn't care.
Especially since the 17 Air has the A19 Pro I’d thought for sure USB 3.0 but luckily since I got the 16e ( which obviously has 2.0 speeds but it’s cheaper than the Air for 2.0)
Yeah Apple why lol
I suspect OP is vastly overestimating the importance of corded data transfer speeds to the purchasing public, especially those that don't buy the Pro models.
I also suspect OP is misunderstanding Tim Apple's role in the company.
I also suspect OP is misunderstanding Tim Apple's role in the company.
Tim Cook benefits from making wired data transfer speeds as slow as possible (by keeping USB 2.0) because that incentivizes customers to spend even more money to use iCloud for iPhone backups instead of doing wired backups for free to their Macs or Windows PCs.
If iPhones had the latest Thunderbolt 5, or at least Thunderbolt 4 or Thunderbolt 3, or at the very least USB 4, then less customers would spend money for a monthly subscription to iCloud for iPhone backups. So limiting iPhones to USB 2.0 is a convenient way for Cook to continue scamming customers.
Cook’s self-chosen role in the company is to give customers as little as he can get away with in order to maximize profits.
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See posts #137 and #148 in this thread.
Post #137:
Post #148:
How much data are you talking about transferring? iPhone backups are pretty small once the first backup is done.
Interesting theory, except you don't need to use a cable to do a local backup of your iPhone to a Mac/PC: it works over WiFi, too. No iCloud required.
And now, thanks to Tim Cook's fantastic N1 networking chip, even the cheapest iPhone 17 model has WiFi 7 capabilities, resulting in even faster local WiFi backups. Thank you Tim!
Good point. Adding DisplayPort over USB-C would not have made the iPhone Air any thicker or heavier. Most modern smartphone chipsets have DisplayPort output capabilities built-in, so it wouldn't be surprising if Tim Crook wanted it disabled on the iPhone Air in order to differentiate tiers, in order to upsell and make more money.
To put this in perspective, even the non-Pro iPhone 15 has DisplayPort over USB-C.
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Imagine Apple in 2025 selling a newly-released Mac not with the latest Apple Silicon M4 processor, not even with an Apple Silicon M1 processor, not even with an Intel Core 2 processor, but rather with a PowerPC G4 processor. It’s unthinkable, right? But there were G4 Macs released 22 years ago, in 2003, with USB 2.0. Yet there are many people who are defending Tim Cook’s decision to release new iPhone models in 2025 with the same USB 2.0 speed on 22 year old G4 Macs released in 2003.
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You just felt like bumping the thread? No discussion here, just you ranting and raving.
The fact of the matter is, not many users care about USB2.0 in iPhone 17 and iPhone Air. If they did, they wouldn’t sell. Not many users do data transfers over USB on the lower models. Most users who have a use for this feature buy the Pro. There is little to no consumer outrage here.
More importantly, there’s no meaningful new conversation for this thread. It would do the community a service to let it fade down the list, until someone other than OP has something to add to the conversation— not OP bumping the thread with consecutive posts and no new insight or contribution