Apple ditches the Lightning connector in favor of USB-C after 11 years

As testament to the durability, the lightning connector was sufficiently durable that Apple would display the iPhone on a spike with nothing more than the lightning connector at the very tip to hold up the phone, constantly being handled and replaced by curious store visitors - this approach was also mirrored in the lightning dock design, where the phone was held in place (at an angle no less) with no other secondary support, only the singular lightning connector holding up the phone with such robustness that one could interact with the phone without concern.

Lightning is and remains to be incredibly durable and sturdy, far exceeding the spec of the type-C connection standard. For a phone or accessories it's a much more pragmatic connector, and a pity to see it go.

USB-C because is not engineered for this level of abuse. From a fatigue perspective USB-C is absolutely a step backwards, tongued designs are weaker, there is no getting around that. I will be interested to see how apple show USB-C iPhones in store, if they keep the lightning-plinth or utilise a design with a back support to limit the wear on the plinth's connector.

-- From this point is a commentary on the politics that helped influence this change, feel free to skip it. tl,dr: The laws surrounding USB-C are short-sighted, focused on the wrong aspects of computing waste, and create a future problem. --

The dogmatic persistence in unifying the world on the cable of the day is short sighted and disappointing politicking to me. Type-C will be superseded, but getting the critical mass to transition to a new standard will be muted because manufacturers can't legally move major products to it. Legislators have created a problem for the not-too-distant future, there will be temporary harmony on type-C, and then invariably we will have country-to-country inconsistencies in legislation as newer, better, connectors emerge.

It's clear to me that regulation is focusing on the wrong aspects of phone design. Instead of mandating for year on year support, long term security software updates, clean manufacturing standards, appropriate materials & labour sourcing, plus a minimum performance benchmark to prevent cheap junk phones entering the market (and thus fast-tracked to landfill) we have the introduction of laws asking what cable an Apple user pulls out of their satchel when wireless charging isn't available. The idea seems to be that now a person would have one cable instead of two(?)

Here's a common example: When I signed up for my internet package, it included a free tablet computer - there was no way to opt out of receiving it, it came pre-installed with software that had known security vulnerabilities, it used microUSB, and its performance was too poor to hold any modern function. Even the person I gave it to had let me know that it was put into electronics recycling after less than a year. This product's manufacture, materials, and shipping created significantly more waste than any amount of lightning cables that a person could feasibly use in an entire lifetime.

It's utter insanity that legislators haven't attempted to address the real sources of environmental damage, human rights abuses, and the very real security issue that these junk devices present. Fixation on the connector has been nothing more than political hand waving. I'm not against type-C, I prefer it, but it's clear to me that people who think this is a real issue are blindsighted.

However, that would have required active/negotiating Lightning-to-USB-3 cables or adapters, since USB 3 requires three lanes, i.e. one more (two for SuperSpeed connections, and one for legacy USB 2.0 high speed connections), and the adapter/cable would have to figure out which one the connected host wants to speak and wire accordingly.

At least one iPad does support USB 3 speeds over Lightning, but only in the other direction, i.e. when acting as an USB host using the "Lightning to USB camera adapter", which was really a generic USB host adapter and supported many more types of devices like audio interfaces, hard drives etc. – I suspect that adapter must be doing just that.

Thinking about it the logistics don't work out for the iPhone 6 launch when I look more carefully. It would have been possible for Apple to ship usb-c with the 6s if they really wanted to get it done.

I'm not sure why you're being such a stickler. I did say "6 or 6s". You also made an even larger chronological error than the one I made in the process of correcting me, so you ought to emphasise with my carelessness. After all - if I'm supposed to be akin to somebody who believes diesel locomotives could have stopped climate change in the 19th century, what does that say about yourself?

Then manufacturers of accessories and consumers could have chosen whether to buy Lightning stuff or to wait.

https://www.phonearena.com/phones/size/Apple-iPhone-SE-2022,...

>What I find annoying is that lighting cables are rent-seeking proprietary Apple tech

I don't think this is a fair description frankly. Lightning was developed years before USB-C, which itself was heavily influenced by Apple, and the USB situation before that sucked. They themselves came up with something useful, better than what came before or the other options at the time. Sure, ideally they would have standardized it voluntarily and made it open for all, but by the same token why couldn't the rest of the industry be bothered to do a decent non-directional plug connector years before hand instead of monstrosities like the USB-3 Micro Type B? I think using "rent seeking" to mean "anything proprietary anyone develops and sells" starts feeling a little too expansive?

>and not even universally used in their own product

It's been universally used across what it was developed for though, the handheld devices. And in terms of raw performance capability and flexibility it's obviously much, much worse than Thunderbolt/USB-C which came later. I don't see why things would be better if it was on Macs?

>Apple already on their own makes people have to re-buy peripherals when they change standards, so it's not like they have a high ground.

Lightning has been around though 11 years, and the 30-pin connector 9 years before that. And would likely have been around years more without this. I don't think you can reasonably say they haven't had pretty decent runs when it comes to handheld/ultra portable devices? Apple has definitely been far, far faster moving when it comes to Macs for better and for worse. But again, I think that's not an apples-to-apples comparison, because computers almost always are connecting to things via cables not anything form fitting, they have plenty of space to work with. Which in turn means adapters really can be an acceptable (if suboptimal and disliked) solution.

Reasonable minds can differ of course!

>I do actually hope that the USB-C form factor connector winds up being a permanent connector.

I really, really don't. It stinks so much having to use copper vs fiber.

>USB-C has proven to be tremendously scalable

I can use the same OS2 I got a decade ago for a 10gbps to run 200 Gbps now. Same cable. For a few bucks per meter. And can do it over anywhere from 1 meter to kilometers.

Much better designs are possible then USB-C, and stuff could use it.