Apple introduced the Lightning connector with the iPhone 5 back in 2012. At the time, it was reversible and superior to the existing Micro-USB connectors. Having been manufactured of a single piece of metal, it was also more durable than the more complex USB connectors.
The first USB-C phone was released in 2015. Samsung released their first USB-C phone, the infamous Galaxy Note 7 in 2016. Their flagship model didn’t use USB-C until 2017.
I find the whole Lighting-hate thing slightly puzzling. Imagine that you come up with a technological solution that solves a problem. Years later, other people finally find a way to solve the same problem. Then they accuse you of being backward. Finally the use of your solution is declared illegal.
Still, now that iPhone indeed has switched to USB-C, Apple’s keyboards, headphones and touchpads should follow suit as soon as possible. It makes no sense for them to use Lightning anymore as the ecosystem around it is obsolete.
Edit: another thing that I have found puzzling is how Apple is getting all the hate for proprietary standards, yet at the same time multiple other manufacturers have developed their own proprietary fast charging protocols which means you need both a proprietary cable and a proprietary charger to charge your phones to get charging speeds anywhere close to what is advertised. This was tested by for example Android Authority a few years back. To provide a more up-to-date example, OnePlus 10 Pro supports fast charging at 65 watts but only with its own ”SuperVooc” charger. If you try to charge through USB-PD, you are limited to 18 watts even though PD would theoretically support up to 240 watts. The SuperVooc chargers also refuse to charge any other device at a power higher than 10 watts. It’s interesting how this phenomenon has slipped under most people’s radar.
A lot of the hate comes from apple having been a big supporter of the usb-c standard when it was developed, yet they still chose to go the anti-consumer route and stick with lightning for years after they already had a better cable. Now there’s landfills of useless lightning cables, while we can still use micro-usb for a lot of other old devices.
Better how? There is nothing in the iPhone 15 that was improved after changing the port. For the iPhone 15 Pro, faster transfer speeds are now supported but if we are honest, how many iPhone owners will ever transfer anything to or from their phones using a cable? I remember doing so once in the past 5 years. Using the cloud or AirDrop is significantly more convenient. On a device as small as the phone fast charging at higher wattage than what Lightning already provided is most likely going to murder your battery.
Now there’s landfills of useless lightning cables, while we can still use micro-usb for a lot of other old devices.
I don’t see why we couldn’t still use Lightning cables for old devices the same way as we can use micro-usb cables for old devices? Apple and other manufacturers have sold billions of devices and accessories utilizing Lightning. It’s not going to disappear any time soon.
Are lightning cables proprietary or universal? If Apple wanted to make it the standard, they should have opened it up beyond the walls of Apple, sort of like how Tesla has done with their chargers.
I don’t see why we couldn’t still use Lightning cables for old devices the same way as we can use micro-usb cables
Because Lightning is proprietary. There are no old devices outside of Apple’s ecosystem that use Lightning.
Fucking everything uses/used micro usb. Flashlights, controllers, vapes, Rokus, etc… basically any consumer electronic you can think of had a version using micro usb on it for something at some point.
Sure, but all of them will assuredly have a direct official USB-C replacement, that is also better in other ways(i.e over the base iphone 14, besides usb-c, the base 15 also gains the A16 SoC and dynamic island), in the near future. Nobody is saying get rid of those older devices just to be on the new standard, but eventually people WILL upgrade. Whether that be for new features,faster performance, better audio quality, or just plain wanting to be done with Lightning, something will cause them to upgrade.
Despite being obsolete in every single possible way, this isn’t the case for micro-usb. Unlike with Apple devices where there’s always a tangible, if maybe not worthwhile, upgrade on the newer model, there are SO many things micro-usb is used on that NEVER need to be replaced unless it physically breaks. Until they literally break, my micro-usb charged flashlight is just as good as my usb-c flashlight, my decade old alarm clock powered by micro-usb is just as good as a brand new usb-c alarm clock, etc…
Your comment just made me think about all the devices I still use that use micro-USB: Bluetooth speakers (most of which I bought some long time ago and still work), rechargeable keyboard with trackpad (used for our streaming PC), headsets, gaming controllers, power packs (even one that has an additional Apple charger as an option LOL), AA batteries, bicycle headlights/taillights, so many flashlights and lanterns for camping, the mobile hotspot they gave me for work, action cams…
We’ll be using micro-USB for a long time to come, it seems.
I used to use an iPhone X to move photos from my camera’s sd card to my ssd while traveling. The transfers took a long time and would definitely have benefited from faster transfer speeds.
They only accuse Apple of being backwards in this case because for anyone else to use it they have to pay a licensing fee to Apple. The new standard (USB-C) is free to add to your device.
At least one improvement has been made to the spec over the years: the iPhone X / iPhone 8 introduced support for fast charging through the USB-PD standard which meant something had to be upgraded. I’m fairly sure that change did not result in physical changes to the connector though. It has always remained backwards-compatible.
What? I’m not the one you’re correcting, but I’ll be correcting you. I was invited through their forums, and bought the OnePlus One (EU version), which definitely had micro-USB. Have you really had/seen the OnePlus One with USB-C? I’m confused, but I think you’re the one being wrong.
Apple introduced the Lightning connector with the iPhone 5 back in 2012. At the time, it was reversible and superior to the existing Micro-USB connectors. Having been manufactured of a single piece of metal, it was also more durable than the more complex USB connectors.
The first USB-C phone was released in 2015. Samsung released their first USB-C phone, the infamous Galaxy Note 7 in 2016. Their flagship model didn’t use USB-C until 2017.
I find the whole Lighting-hate thing slightly puzzling. Imagine that you come up with a technological solution that solves a problem. Years later, other people finally find a way to solve the same problem. Then they accuse you of being backward. Finally the use of your solution is declared illegal.
Still, now that iPhone indeed has switched to USB-C, Apple’s keyboards, headphones and touchpads should follow suit as soon as possible. It makes no sense for them to use Lightning anymore as the ecosystem around it is obsolete.
Edit: another thing that I have found puzzling is how Apple is getting all the hate for proprietary standards, yet at the same time multiple other manufacturers have developed their own proprietary fast charging protocols which means you need both a proprietary cable and a proprietary charger to charge your phones to get charging speeds anywhere close to what is advertised. This was tested by for example Android Authority a few years back. To provide a more up-to-date example, OnePlus 10 Pro supports fast charging at 65 watts but only with its own ”SuperVooc” charger. If you try to charge through USB-PD, you are limited to 18 watts even though PD would theoretically support up to 240 watts. The SuperVooc chargers also refuse to charge any other device at a power higher than 10 watts. It’s interesting how this phenomenon has slipped under most people’s radar.
A lot of the hate comes from apple having been a big supporter of the usb-c standard when it was developed, yet they still chose to go the anti-consumer route and stick with lightning for years after they already had a better cable. Now there’s landfills of useless lightning cables, while we can still use micro-usb for a lot of other old devices.
Better how? There is nothing in the iPhone 15 that was improved after changing the port. For the iPhone 15 Pro, faster transfer speeds are now supported but if we are honest, how many iPhone owners will ever transfer anything to or from their phones using a cable? I remember doing so once in the past 5 years. Using the cloud or AirDrop is significantly more convenient. On a device as small as the phone fast charging at higher wattage than what Lightning already provided is most likely going to murder your battery.
I don’t see why we couldn’t still use Lightning cables for old devices the same way as we can use micro-usb cables for old devices? Apple and other manufacturers have sold billions of devices and accessories utilizing Lightning. It’s not going to disappear any time soon.
Are lightning cables proprietary or universal? If Apple wanted to make it the standard, they should have opened it up beyond the walls of Apple, sort of like how Tesla has done with their chargers.
Any manufacturer can make Lightning devices, as long as they license it.
proprietary
prə-prī′ĭ-tĕr″ē
adjective
Owned by a private individual or corporation under a trademark or patent.
That’s what I said, wasn’t it?
That’s the point
Because Lightning is proprietary. There are no old devices outside of Apple’s ecosystem that use Lightning.
Fucking everything uses/used micro usb. Flashlights, controllers, vapes, Rokus, etc… basically any consumer electronic you can think of had a version using micro usb on it for something at some point.
But Apple has alone sold a billion devices using Lightning. Many of those devices will likely remain usable for years.
Sure, but all of them will assuredly have a direct official USB-C replacement, that is also better in other ways(i.e over the base iphone 14, besides usb-c, the base 15 also gains the A16 SoC and dynamic island), in the near future. Nobody is saying get rid of those older devices just to be on the new standard, but eventually people WILL upgrade. Whether that be for new features,faster performance, better audio quality, or just plain wanting to be done with Lightning, something will cause them to upgrade.
Despite being obsolete in every single possible way, this isn’t the case for micro-usb. Unlike with Apple devices where there’s always a tangible, if maybe not worthwhile, upgrade on the newer model, there are SO many things micro-usb is used on that NEVER need to be replaced unless it physically breaks. Until they literally break, my micro-usb charged flashlight is just as good as my usb-c flashlight, my decade old alarm clock powered by micro-usb is just as good as a brand new usb-c alarm clock, etc…
Your comment just made me think about all the devices I still use that use micro-USB: Bluetooth speakers (most of which I bought some long time ago and still work), rechargeable keyboard with trackpad (used for our streaming PC), headsets, gaming controllers, power packs (even one that has an additional Apple charger as an option LOL), AA batteries, bicycle headlights/taillights, so many flashlights and lanterns for camping, the mobile hotspot they gave me for work, action cams…
We’ll be using micro-USB for a long time to come, it seems.
I used to use an iPhone X to move photos from my camera’s sd card to my ssd while traveling. The transfers took a long time and would definitely have benefited from faster transfer speeds.
They only accuse Apple of being backwards in this case because for anyone else to use it they have to pay a licensing fee to Apple. The new standard (USB-C) is free to add to your device.
Did they did improvements on it or it has been always the same identically connector?
At least one improvement has been made to the spec over the years: the iPhone X / iPhone 8 introduced support for fast charging through the USB-PD standard which meant something had to be upgraded. I’m fairly sure that change did not result in physical changes to the connector though. It has always remained backwards-compatible.
One of the iPad Pros supported USB 3 speeds over lightning, before they transitioned the iPads to USB C. https://www.zdnet.com/article/ipad-pro-lighting-port-works-with-usb-3-0-but-theres-a-catch/
Wrong. OnePlus One, released in April, (as invite only) 2014 had USB-C.
What? I’m not the one you’re correcting, but I’ll be correcting you. I was invited through their forums, and bought the OnePlus One (EU version), which definitely had micro-USB. Have you really had/seen the OnePlus One with USB-C? I’m confused, but I think you’re the one being wrong.