Faster USB 3 charging & file transfers are exclusive to Apple's 12.9" iPad Pro

AppleInsider

Apple's new USB 3 Lightning accessories offer faster file transfers and battery recharging abilities, but the only Apple device with a USB 3 Lightning port supporting those featuers remains the jumbo-sized 12.9-inch iPad Pro.

Apple has launched a new Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter that features a standard USB port with USB 3 speeds. The company also offers a new Lightning to USB-C cable that is compatible with all Lightning-enabled Apple products for syncing and charging. However, in the description for the camera adapter, Apple notes that USB 3 data speeds are only capable with the iPad Pro. Similarly, the Lightning to USB-C cable will not offer quick charging benefits for any other devices. That means the new 9.7-inch iPad Pro lacks one key feature of the larger 12.9-inch model: It doesn't have a USB 3 capable Lightning port. Still, the new Lightning to USB-C cable gives users the ability to plug their iPhone, iPad or otherwise directly into Apple's 12-inch MacBook, which features a single USB-C port for both syncing and charging.

AI2xxx

Better late than never. I wonder if we'll see Thunderbolt 3 in the next couple of years.

sflocal

I can charge my iP6+ with my iPad 12w charger to 100% in about an hour.  I can understand the file-transfer speeds with USB3, but I'm not understanding the charging times being implied with USB3.

Soli

AI2xxx said:

Better late than never. I wonder if we'll see Thunderbolt 3 in the next couple of years.

Thunderbolt means it's using an Intel chip. I doubt we'll ever see that on their iDevices.

Blaster

sflocal said:

I can charge my iP6+ with my iPad 12w charger to 100% in about an hour.  I can understand the file-transfer speeds with USB3, but I'm not understanding the charging times being implied with USB3.

The USB 2.0 standard provides up to 500ma per port.  USB 3.0 standard provides up to 900ma per port.  The "high power" USB ports found in some computers including Macs are actually nonstandard implementations.

focher

However, in the description for the camera adapter, Apple notes that USB 3 data speeds are only capable with the iPad Pro. Similarly, the Lightning to USB-C cable will not offer quick charging benefits for any other devices.

That means the new 9.7-inch iPad Pro lacks one key feature of the larger 12.9-inch model: It doesn't have a USB 3 capable Lightning port.

Umm, is this accurate? The new 9.7 iPad is a "Pro" and during the event, Schiller even announced this adapter alongside the iPad Pro 9.7 so it's not clear whether that model supports USB 3. I think it's more likely that it does support USB 3 for data transfer and that this isn't just limited to the iPad Pro 12.9.

update: didn't see the last sentence in the description, so 9.7 is USB 2 only

1983

You guys hands on with the new 9.7" iPad Pro - check the Lightning port to see if it has two sets of 8 pin contacts sitting inside the port...if it does it probably incorporates USB3 speed capabilities like its bigger brethren. It it doesn't then probably not.

mfryd

The description for this product on Apple's web site explicitly says "The 12.9-inch iPad Pro transfers data at USB 3 speeds, while the 9.7-inch iPad Pro uses USB 2."

1983

mfryd said:

The description for this product on Apple's web site explicitly says "The 12.9-inch iPad Pro transfers data at USB 3 speeds, while the 9.7-inch iPad Pro uses USB 2."

Well that settles it then...its a shame they've put that kind of limitation on a new 'Pro' iPad product, so to put it lower down in the pecking order. I thought it was supposed to be the equal off the 12.9" just with a smaller screen...it isn't.

melgross

AI2xxx said:

Better late than never. I wonder if we'll see Thunderbolt 3 in the next couple of years.

I doubt it. That requires a lot more power, and a much faster bus in the device. It's also a PCI Express 3 only interface.

melgross

1983 said:

mfryd said:

The description for this product on Apple's web site explicitly says "The 12.9-inch iPad Pro transfers data at USB 3 speeds, while the 9.7-inch iPad Pro uses USB 2."

Well that settles it then...its a shame they've put that kind of limitation on a new 'Pro' iPad product, so to put it lower down in the pecking order. I thought it was supposed to be the equal off the 12.9" just with a smaller screen...it isn't.

That's the only thing. But otherwise, it's better than my iPad Pro 12.9" model. It's got the new 12MP camera with the multi hue flash. The bigger color gamet, and that's really a pretty big thing. It's got the ambient light sensors for color adjust, which I assume can be turned off. That's really useful. They both can be bought with 256GB storage.

Overall, this is a pretty good upgrade. Yes, it's too bad the USB 3 isn't there, but there must be some reason, and from what is included, it doesn't seem to be a sales differentiating factor. If anything, from the other features, the 9.7" model is more desirable.

appex

Apple should build standard ports like USB in all apple devices.

Besides a Mac tablet. 

rezwits

Now all I need is a USB3 to USBC adapter/cable so I can use the USBC to Lightning Cable, for syncs and backups. Should pull in at USB3 speeds...

palegolas

Yeah!! Finally high bandwidth enough to run the iPad as an extended display for the Mac! Astropad, I'm sure, has been working to get the latency and pixelation go away.

... on second thought. We need a lightning to USB3 CABLE to do that. Not a lightning to USB3 ADAPTER. Oh well.. 

Blaster

appex said:

Apple should build standard ports like USB in all apple devices.

Besides a Mac tablet. 

But I thought iPads are Macs, therefore Mac tablets.

staticx57

melgross said:

1983 said:

Well that settles it then...its a shame they've put that kind of limitation on a new 'Pro' iPad product, so to put it lower down in the pecking order. I thought it was supposed to be the equal off the 12.9" just with a smaller screen...it isn't.

That's the only thing. But otherwise, it's better than my iPad Pro 12.9" model. It's got the new 12MP camera with the multi hue flash. The bigger color gamet, and that's really a pretty big thing. It's got the ambient light sensors for color adjust, which I assume can be turned off. That's really useful. They both can be bought with 256GB storage.

Overall, this is a pretty good upgrade. Yes, it's too bad the USB 3 isn't there, but there must be some reason, and from what is included, it doesn't seem to be a sales differentiating factor. If anything, from the other features, the 9.7" model is more desirable.

I would have to imagine that there would be different calibration settings for the new 9.7." Letting it use the DCI-P3 would render all other colors that use sRGB, which is most of the content on the internet, inaccurate. Could this be the start of color profiles like OSX has?

wizard69

Soli said:

AI2xxx said:

Better late than never. I wonder if we'll see Thunderbolt 3 in the next couple of years.

Thunderbolt means it's using an Intel chip. I doubt we'll ever see that on their iDevices.

I'm not too sure about that. I wouldn't be surprised to find that Apple has licensed the technology from Intel to implement as they want when they want. Apple isn't about to close the gate on TB3 in its ARM based devices. They may not have a solution now but I can see them having one in the future as the performance of iOS devices increases.

canukstorm

wizard69 said:

Soli said:

Thunderbolt means it's using an Intel chip. I doubt we'll ever see that on their iDevices.

I'm not too sure about that. I wouldn't be surprised to find that Apple has licensed the technology from Intel to implement as they want when they want. Apple isn't about to close the gate on TB3 in its ARM based devices. They may not have a solution now but I can see them having one in the future as the performance of iOS devices increases.

Is it possible to implement TB3 on ARM or is it exclusive to x86?

cash907censored

Can someone explain this omission, as it seems like the internals of this thing pretty closely match its older brother, albeit clocked slightly lower. I was really excited about the faster transfer rates seeing how SD card to iPad transfers are going to be a common occurance for me, and USB speeds would have been nice. Gonna take a long time to backup and transfer 128GB over USB 2 speeds as well. 

rogifan_new

This is dumb. I can't imagine it's saving Apple much $$ so why not have it match the 12.9" device? It reminds me of when the retina mini launched but the the color gamut wasn't as good as the Air. Of course now the mini 4 has a display as good if not better than the Air. Stupid!

rcfa

Yeah, awesome idea: 256GB paired with USB2 speeds...
...painful enough to restore a 128GB device now that's 2/3rds full.
Maybe it's Apple giving the FBI some leverage: "Give us your password, or we'll make you restore your iPad again..."