The rumored new iPod Touch with a form factor as the iPhone XR will be great. Even the form factor of the iPhone XS will be okay. It'll help standardize on parts. However Apple needs to have the capacity of either 512 GB or 1 TB as the upper end. Would be great if they include cellular data capability for it.
More likely it will be with a form factor as the iPhone 8 4.7"
I can't say much (negative) about the robustness of the lightning port, but lightning cables? Oh no. I had my fair share of trouble. Especially in humid environments the gold contacts just disappear, and no lightning cable, although optically in best condition except the plug, lasted longer than 2 years I would think. I had one notable exception which I use since 2014 or so, an aftermarket, very short (6") lightning cable that is used very rarely and still works although it starts failing in one orientation.
Third party (I guess some unlicensed) would stop working faster than original ones. I remember also going to the HK IFC Mall Apple Store with my collection of "burnt contact" lightning cables and they would just hand out replacements after verifying those were originals -with no other questions asked. (they replaced with unpackaged, loose cables). It is a known fact in parts of the world that the lightning plug doesn't age very well.
Now, the USB-C doesn't have the contacts exposed, so you're not touching it with your fingers and it's not getting damage from other, possibly sharp, objects in your backpack.
Because the USB-C has the contacts hidden, I see it as far superior. It is sadly bigger, and the presence of a tongue as others have mentioned make it possible for the port itself to be damaged where the lighting port has so far been very resistent to damage.
I still have had no damage to USB-C cables or ports though and I had lots of damage to lightning cables - in all fairness I use lightning cables longer than USB-C but I did jump on the USB-C MacBook Pro bandwagon from day one - I have some experience. I also have upgrade to USB-C where I can and finally have to say that I was not intending to upgrade to this year's iPhone but if it changes to USB-C that alone would be reason for me.
I would buy an upgraded 1TB A10-ish iPod in a flash. But then I might forego an upgraded iPad Mini.
Suppose I should wait to see what actually materializes.
I do believe it would have to ba at least an A11 with the Apple GPU given they said they would be out of all imagination technologies powerVR gpu in 18months to 2years in April 2017.
I'm not convinced that there's a place for an iPod Touch in today's world.
My iPod Classic 120 GB is now 10 years old and still used every day. Recently I had to put in a new battery (from eBay) but the iPod is getting old and won’t last forever. I have no need for a phone but an iPod touch, if it is available with 128 GB would be an excellent replacement.
It would be if Apple fixed the Music app to work properly over USB but my current attempts to do something similar (replace iPod Classic with used 128GB iPhone 6 and get WiFi sync to my PC’s iTunes) has resulted in the purchase of another iPod Classic upgraded to SSD. iOS still thinks it’s acceotable to play the tracks from an artist in alphabetical order instead of album date order over USB.
The more I use the iOS Music app, the more I hate it.
In my particular case, I don't CARE what album a track came from, my focus is on singles. Since about 50% of my library came from compilation albums, I find it EXTREMELY frustrating that a search for everything by a particular artist fails to include those tracks!
Despite us coming at music management from opposite directions, Apple managed to annoy both of us. Quite an accomplishment! (I love the desktop version of iTunes, though. It's just that iOS abomination that bugs me.)
An iPod touch still has relevance today. There are plenty of reasons - and people - that want an iPhone sans the phone part. For kids, homes, cars, etc...
My nephews still use their iPod Touches constantly. It's relevant.
While I like the durability of the Lightning connector, it was an interim technology and now that USBc is here, well... we either move on or stay still.
iPod touch makes a great "gateway" into the Apple ecosystem for children who are too young to have an iPhone. A $200 apple device with monthly payment is the ideal Christmas/Birthday gift for kids. It allows them get hooked on the app store, and start building their music library. iTunes cards are a given at every gift opportunity. When they are ready, they can transition into a "hand me down" iPhone from Mom and Dad, and away they go...
Give someone a hand me down iPhone and don’t enable the cell service.
That's what we did with my daughter. An old iPhone with no SIM card was perfect for her.
In general I would welcome the switch to USB C. It would be nice to have a universal connector for all smart phones. When the lightning connector came out it was clearly superior to the mini/micro USB connector, USB C has erased most of the advantage. Apple is saying it's the future - they should put their money where their mouth is. Or at least their design. I find it more than a bit ironic that they eliminated the USB A port from their computers but stick with old connectors in their phones.
The main concerns I have with USB C are durability and the presence of a center tongue. The USB C ports in my MacBook Pro don't seem nearly as robust and solid as the lightning connector. Also, I periodically need to clean pocket lint out of the lightning port. I imagine the USB C port would suffer the same issue, but the presence of the tongue in the center would make cleaning it much more difficult.
The future is wireless. USB-C was too late to the game, and now it’s the intermediary technology between lightning and wireless. Apple would be foolish to switch a mobile device to yet another port that isn’t necessary for the phone, requiring more water-proofing, along with a more delicate connector, and it’s customers to replace 100s of millions of cables and accessories. Those same cables can connect to Qi charging cases, pads, and stands, or customers can use the same cables they use with their MBs and iPads.
Try transferring 50-60GB of video to an iPhone or iPad over Lightning. PAINFULLY slow. Now try doing it wirelessly. Even SLOWER!
Now try the USB-C connection on an iPad Pro. Case closed.
The rumored new iPod Touch with a form factor as the iPhone XR will be great. Even the form factor of the iPhone XS will be okay. It'll help standardize on parts. However Apple needs to have the capacity of either 512 GB or 1 TB as the upper end. Would be great if they include cellular data capability for it.
If they make that, they can ditch the iPod moniker altogether. What you'll have is an iPad Nano.
A 7th gen device using the A12 and the stalwart 5.5” display from the iPhone 8 Plus with either 64 or 256 GB storage options and launched later this year. Would make a great, powerful but still reasonably priced entrance into Apple services...or maybe I’m being too conservative?
An iPod touch still has relevance today. There are plenty of reasons - and people - that want an iPhone sans the phone part. For kids, homes, cars, etc...
My nephews still use their iPod Touches constantly. It's relevant.
While I like the durability of the Lightning connector, it was an interim technology and now that USBc is here, well... we either move on or stay still.
iPod touch makes a great "gateway" into the Apple ecosystem for children who are too young to have an iPhone. A $200 apple device with monthly payment is the ideal Christmas/Birthday gift for kids. It allows them get hooked on the app store, and start building their music library. iTunes cards are a given at every gift opportunity. When they are ready, they can transition into a "hand me down" iPhone from Mom and Dad, and away they go...
Give someone a hand me down iPhone and don’t enable the cell service.
That's what we did with my daughter. An old iPhone with no SIM card was perfect for her.
In general I would welcome the switch to USB C. It would be nice to have a universal connector for all smart phones. When the lightning connector came out it was clearly superior to the mini/micro USB connector, USB C has erased most of the advantage. Apple is saying it's the future - they should put their money where their mouth is. Or at least their design. I find it more than a bit ironic that they eliminated the USB A port from their computers but stick with old connectors in their phones.
The main concerns I have with USB C are durability and the presence of a center tongue. The USB C ports in my MacBook Pro don't seem nearly as robust and solid as the lightning connector. Also, I periodically need to clean pocket lint out of the lightning port. I imagine the USB C port would suffer the same issue, but the presence of the tongue in the center would make cleaning it much more difficult.
The future is wireless. USB-C was too late to the game, and now it’s the intermediary technology between lightning and wireless. Apple would be foolish to switch a mobile device to yet another port that isn’t necessary for the phone, requiring more water-proofing, along with a more delicate connector, and it’s customers to replace 100s of millions of cables and accessories. Those same cables can connect to Qi charging cases, pads, and stands, or customers can use the same cables they use with their MBs and iPads.
Yet they did this with the iPad Pro. Wireless charging had plusses and minuses. However data transfer is painfully slow. A physical port will be needed for quite some time yet. Makes no sense to the have the iPad line on USB-C and the iPhone on lightning IMO.
I can't say much (negative) about the robustness of the lightning port, but lightning cables? Oh no. I had my fair share of trouble. Especially in humid environments the gold contacts just disappear, and no lightning cable, although optically in best condition except the plug, lasted longer than 2 years I would think. I had one notable exception which I use since 2014 or so, an aftermarket, very short (6") lightning cable that is used very rarely and still works although it starts failing in one orientation.
Third party (I guess some unlicensed) would stop working faster than original ones. I remember also going to the HK IFC Mall Apple Store with my collection of "burnt contact" lightning cables and they would just hand out replacements after verifying those were originals -with no other questions asked. (they replaced with unpackaged, loose cables). It is a known fact in parts of the world that the lightning plug doesn't age very well.
Now, the USB-C doesn't have the contacts exposed, so you're not touching it with your fingers and it's not getting damage from other, possibly sharp, objects in your backpack.
Because the USB-C has the contacts hidden, I see it as far superior. It is sadly bigger, and the presence of a tongue as others have mentioned make it possible for the port itself to be damaged where the lighting port has so far been very resistent to damage.
I still have had no damage to USB-C cables or ports though and I had lots of damage to lightning cables - in all fairness I use lightning cables longer than USB-C but I did jump on the USB-C MacBook Pro bandwagon from day one - I have some experience. I also have upgrade to USB-C where I can and finally have to say that I was not intending to upgrade to this year's iPhone but if it changes to USB-C that alone would be reason for me.
Gold doesn’t oxidize, even in humid conditions. It is soft and does readily wear off however. Regardless, I doubt the contacts on your cable are gold. I’ve had at least a couple cables last more than 2 years, but if you consider the amount of use and abouse these things get that’s actually not too bad. Regardless, Even if you can’t see them directly, the contacts in a USB C cable are exposed to air, so if you’re worried about corrosion on the contacts there won’t be a difference.
The primary mode of failure I’ve seen on almost all cables is the jacket and subsequently the outer shielding wires getting frayed at the connector. 2nd to that is the cable simply not working when you plug it in or the phone rejecting it as an ‘unapproved accessory’ which I’m assuming is d/t a failure of the electronics inside (remember, these are not straight, ‘dumb’ cables,there are electronics inside that can fail.)
USB C may have the contacts hidden, but the connector itself seems to be much less robust and secure in my experience with my MacBook Pro.
An iPod touch still has relevance today. There are plenty of reasons - and people - that want an iPhone sans the phone part. For kids, homes, cars, etc...
My nephews still use their iPod Touches constantly. It's relevant.
While I like the durability of the Lightning connector, it was an interim technology and now that USBc is here, well... we either move on or stay still.
iPod touch makes a great "gateway" into the Apple ecosystem for children who are too young to have an iPhone. A $200 apple device with monthly payment is the ideal Christmas/Birthday gift for kids. It allows them get hooked on the app store, and start building their music library. iTunes cards are a given at every gift opportunity. When they are ready, they can transition into a "hand me down" iPhone from Mom and Dad, and away they go...
Give someone a hand me down iPhone and don’t enable the cell service.
That's what we did with my daughter. An old iPhone with no SIM card was perfect for her.
In general I would welcome the switch to USB C. It would be nice to have a universal connector for all smart phones. When the lightning connector came out it was clearly superior to the mini/micro USB connector, USB C has erased most of the advantage. Apple is saying it's the future - they should put their money where their mouth is. Or at least their design. I find it more than a bit ironic that they eliminated the USB A port from their computers but stick with old connectors in their phones.
The main concerns I have with USB C are durability and the presence of a center tongue. The USB C ports in my MacBook Pro don't seem nearly as robust and solid as the lightning connector. Also, I periodically need to clean pocket lint out of the lightning port. I imagine the USB C port would suffer the same issue, but the presence of the tongue in the center would make cleaning it much more difficult.
The future is wireless. USB-C was too late to the game, and now it’s the intermediary technology between lightning and wireless. Apple would be foolish to switch a mobile device to yet another port that isn’t necessary for the phone, requiring more water-proofing, along with a more delicate connector, and it’s customers to replace 100s of millions of cables and accessories. Those same cables can connect to Qi charging cases, pads, and stands, or customers can use the same cables they use with their MBs and iPads.
Wireless may be more convenient in some circumstances, but wired connections are superior in virtually every aspect. Even the Apple Watch has a physical connector. I can’t see anyone, even Apple, removing the connector from their phone in the foreseeable future. They’ve already switched the ipad over to USB C. Continuing the iphone on the lightning connector wouldn’t make sense.
An iPod touch still has relevance today. There are plenty of reasons - and people - that want an iPhone sans the phone part. For kids, homes, cars, etc...
My nephews still use their iPod Touches constantly. It's relevant.
While I like the durability of the Lightning connector, it was an interim technology and now that USBc is here, well... we either move on or stay still.
iPod touch makes a great "gateway" into the Apple ecosystem for children who are too young to have an iPhone. A $200 apple device with monthly payment is the ideal Christmas/Birthday gift for kids. It allows them get hooked on the app store, and start building their music library. iTunes cards are a given at every gift opportunity. When they are ready, they can transition into a "hand me down" iPhone from Mom and Dad, and away they go...
Give someone a hand me down iPhone and don’t enable the cell service.
That's what we did with my daughter. An old iPhone with no SIM card was perfect for her.
In general I would welcome the switch to USB C. It would be nice to have a universal connector for all smart phones. When the lightning connector came out it was clearly superior to the mini/micro USB connector, USB C has erased most of the advantage. Apple is saying it's the future - they should put their money where their mouth is. Or at least their design. I find it more than a bit ironic that they eliminated the USB A port from their computers but stick with old connectors in their phones.
The main concerns I have with USB C are durability and the presence of a center tongue. The USB C ports in my MacBook Pro don't seem nearly as robust and solid as the lightning connector. Also, I periodically need to clean pocket lint out of the lightning port. I imagine the USB C port would suffer the same issue, but the presence of the tongue in the center would make cleaning it much more difficult.
The future is wireless. USB-C was too late to the game, and now it’s the intermediary technology between lightning and wireless. Apple would be foolish to switch a mobile device to yet another port that isn’t necessary for the phone, requiring more water-proofing, along with a more delicate connector, and it’s customers to replace 100s of millions of cables and accessories. Those same cables can connect to Qi charging cases, pads, and stands, or customers can use the same cables they use with their MBs and iPads.
Yet they did this with the iPad Pro. Wireless charging had plusses and minuses. However data transfer is painfully slow. A physical port will be needed for quite some time yet. Makes no sense to the have the iPad line on USB-C and the iPhone on lightning IMO.
The iPad Pro is a PC replacement. The iPhone isn’t. Lightning is capable of transfer speeds of USB 3.0+. But Apple only enabled it on the iPad Pro. They’ve intentionally restrained Lightning to 2.0 speeds, despite constantly growing storage capacity. It’s clear why, Apple sees the iPhone as a mobile device to be used with cloud services. Almost no one I know backs up their iPhone via iTunes, much less transfers data into and out of it, that way. So you’re describing a “pro” level use, which Apple doesn’t seem eager to support on the iPhone. In fact it doesn’t really make sense, especially with Apple’s focus on sealing the device from water and dust incursion. For most, wireless will work perfectly for most people’s needs. The only place I see people complaining about the lack of high speed data transfer is on these tech forums — and we are not the target demographic for the iPhone.
That said, I recognize that a physical port will be necessary for various purposes to make the iPhone truly versatile — hard system resets and diagnostic trouble shooting if nothing else. But that doesn’t mean USB-C is the answer for Apple. I’d expect a sealed connection along the lines of the Smart Connector, which could be used for audio, data, and charging. WiFi transfer speeds are due for a big speed increase, as are 5G speeds, so most iPhone users will never suffer from slow transfer rates. Those that need a physical connection will have one, without compromising any features of the phone — they’ll just need a new adapter for this optional purpose. I’d expect no more than the current transfer speeds, unless Apple changes the design of the SmartConnector dramatically, but then Apple hasn’t bothered to boost the physical transfer speeds of the iPhone either. In fact, the current transfer speeds are likely slower than the fastest WiFi speeds available. And WiFi is about to get a lot faster. Besides, boosting physical transfer speeds does nothing to move people to Apples cloud services, which it has singled the company will be increasingly reliant on for growth.
if Apple intends to drop Lightning for wireless, then it makes perfect sense to leave it in place, despite changing the iPadPro to USB-C. Again, there are vastly more iPhones than iPadPros, and iPhones greatly outnumber iPads in general. So long as the iPhone customer is the dominant one in Apple’s ecosystem, having its own connector makes absolutely no difference. IPad Pro users have different needs than iPhone users (and even different from average iPad users), necessitating adapting to industry norms. The iPhone doesn’t, and certainly not to accommodate another unrelated device with a totally different purpose, solely to make it more convenient for a tiny subset of customers to use the same cables between devices.
As has often been stated, Apple is skating to where the puck will be. USB-C is a niche technology at the moment — I have an easier time finding a Lightning cable than I do a USB-C cable on my corporate campus of over 5,000 employees, much less at a 7-11 at 3AM. I have no doubt USB-C will eventually be the dominate technology, replacing USB-A, and that’s why Apple is adopting it on devices which skew to the needs of those “Pro” users who will have to deal with that reality sooner than later. Mobile phones don’t really fall into that category. So as wireless transfer speeds rapidly improve, and Apple improves the efficiency of wireless charging, and wireless audio gets better; wireless will almost certainly meet or exceed the needs of 99% of the iPhone customer base by the time USB-C becomes the ubiquitous standard. So why force billions of iPhone users to switch to a completely new standard when they don’t need it, and Apples ultimate goal is to get rid of all openings on the phone, sealing it up completely and making it the ultimate portable device? Not only that, but if it’s truly a transitional move to wireless as I contend, Apple loses a substantial revenue stream in Lightning products and licenses, while having to deal with the headaches of even worse USB-C issues, ranging from cheap Chinese cables, and confusion over multiple cable types which do not uniformly support all USB-C protocols, to incompatible accessories, and loss of feature regulation.
I'm not convinced that there's a place for an iPod Touch in today's world.
Then you're completely confused, because a $199-$250 iPod Touch is a lot cheaper for young people who don't need cellular than an iPhone even 3 generations past.
Good grief. Apple is NOT mulling USB-C for iPhone.
1. The port on iPhone has no purpose anymore, beyond emergency charging, diagnostics, and recovery. The average user can and will charge wirelessly overnight and never need to plug the device in, ever.
2. iPhone is in a completely different league from MacBook and iPad...both in purpose and volume. Apple switch to USB-C on iPad Pro because they got something specific out of it that was desired for the device (4k video out). They didn't switch just because. And Apple is not about to switch to anything when the iPhone Lightning install base is in the billions of units.
3. iPhone is an actual portable device that gets used everywhere...not just on the desk, the couch, and the coffee shop like MacBook and iPad. USB-A and Lightning infrastructure is everywhere. There is no incentive to switch away. Too many accessories that people rely on with Lightning built in. Too many USB-A ports in the wild that people rely on.
The rumored new iPod Touch with a form factor as the iPhone XR will be great. Even the form factor of the iPhone XS will be okay. It'll help standardize on parts. However Apple needs to have the capacity of either 512 GB or 1 TB as the upper end. Would be great if they include cellular data capability for it.
So...you don't understand the product at all do you?
iPod touch makes a great "gateway" into the Apple ecosystem for children who are too young to have an iPhone. A $200 apple device with monthly payment is the ideal Christmas/Birthday gift for kids. It allows them get hooked on the app store, and start building their music library. iTunes cards are a given at every gift opportunity. When they are ready, they can transition into a "hand me down" iPhone from Mom and Dad, and away they go...
Give someone a hand me down iPhone and don’t enable the cell service.
It is very unlikely Apple is “mulling” over major hardware decisions for this year’s iPhone, this decisions are made far in advance in order to produce inventory needed for launch. Gruber has written about this many times.
Comments
Suppose I should wait to see what actually materializes.
Third party (I guess some unlicensed) would stop working faster than original ones. I remember also going to the HK IFC Mall Apple Store with my collection of "burnt contact" lightning cables and they would just hand out replacements after verifying those were originals -with no other questions asked. (they replaced with unpackaged, loose cables). It is a known fact in parts of the world that the lightning plug doesn't age very well.
Now, the USB-C doesn't have the contacts exposed, so you're not touching it with your fingers and it's not getting damage from other, possibly sharp, objects in your backpack.
Because the USB-C has the contacts hidden, I see it as far superior. It is sadly bigger, and the presence of a tongue as others have mentioned make it possible for the port itself to be damaged where the lighting port has so far been very resistent to damage.
I still have had no damage to USB-C cables or ports though and I had lots of damage to lightning cables - in all fairness I use lightning cables longer than USB-C but I did jump on the USB-C MacBook Pro bandwagon from day one - I have some experience. I also have upgrade to USB-C where I can and finally have to say that I was not intending to upgrade to this year's iPhone but if it changes to USB-C that alone would be reason for me.
In my particular case, I don't CARE what album a track came from, my focus is on singles. Since about 50% of my library came from compilation albums, I find it EXTREMELY frustrating that a search for everything by a particular artist fails to include those tracks!
Despite us coming at music management from opposite directions, Apple managed to annoy both of us. Quite an accomplishment! (I love the desktop version of iTunes, though. It's just that iOS abomination that bugs me.)
Try transferring 50-60GB of video to an iPhone or iPad over Lightning. PAINFULLY slow. Now try doing it wirelessly. Even SLOWER!
Now try the USB-C connection on an iPad Pro. Case closed.
Just can't stand to run with an iPhone ....
The primary mode of failure I’ve seen on almost all cables is the jacket and subsequently the outer shielding wires getting frayed at the connector. 2nd to that is the cable simply not working when you plug it in or the phone rejecting it as an ‘unapproved accessory’ which I’m assuming is d/t a failure of the electronics inside (remember, these are not straight, ‘dumb’ cables,there are electronics inside that can fail.)
USB C may have the contacts hidden, but the connector itself seems to be much less robust and secure in my experience with my MacBook Pro.
That said, I recognize that a physical port will be necessary for various purposes to make the iPhone truly versatile — hard system resets and diagnostic trouble shooting if nothing else. But that doesn’t mean USB-C is the answer for Apple. I’d expect a sealed connection along the lines of the Smart Connector, which could be used for audio, data, and charging. WiFi transfer speeds are due for a big speed increase, as are 5G speeds, so most iPhone users will never suffer from slow transfer rates. Those that need a physical connection will have one, without compromising any features of the phone — they’ll just need a new adapter for this optional purpose. I’d expect no more than the current transfer speeds, unless Apple changes the design of the SmartConnector dramatically, but then Apple hasn’t bothered to boost the physical transfer speeds of the iPhone either. In fact, the current transfer speeds are likely slower than the fastest WiFi speeds available. And WiFi is about to get a lot faster. Besides, boosting physical transfer speeds does nothing to move people to Apples cloud services, which it has singled the company will be increasingly reliant on for growth.
if Apple intends to drop Lightning for wireless, then it makes perfect sense to leave it in place, despite changing the iPadPro to USB-C. Again, there are vastly more iPhones than iPadPros, and iPhones greatly outnumber iPads in general. So long as the iPhone customer is the dominant one in Apple’s ecosystem, having its own connector makes absolutely no difference. IPad Pro users have different needs than iPhone users (and even different from average iPad users), necessitating adapting to industry norms. The iPhone doesn’t, and certainly not to accommodate another unrelated device with a totally different purpose, solely to make it more convenient for a tiny subset of customers to use the same cables between devices.
As has often been stated, Apple is skating to where the puck will be. USB-C is a niche technology at the moment — I have an easier time finding a Lightning cable than I do a USB-C cable on my corporate campus of over 5,000 employees, much less at a 7-11 at 3AM. I have no doubt USB-C will eventually be the dominate technology, replacing USB-A, and that’s why Apple is adopting it on devices which skew to the needs of those “Pro” users who will have to deal with that reality sooner than later. Mobile phones don’t really fall into that category. So as wireless transfer speeds rapidly improve, and Apple improves the efficiency of wireless charging, and wireless audio gets better; wireless will almost certainly meet or exceed the needs of 99% of the iPhone customer base by the time USB-C becomes the ubiquitous standard. So why force billions of iPhone users to switch to a completely new standard when they don’t need it, and Apples ultimate goal is to get rid of all openings on the phone, sealing it up completely and making it the ultimate portable device? Not only that, but if it’s truly a transitional move to wireless as I contend, Apple loses a substantial revenue stream in Lightning products and licenses, while having to deal with the headaches of even worse USB-C issues, ranging from cheap Chinese cables, and confusion over multiple cable types which do not uniformly support all USB-C protocols, to incompatible accessories, and loss of feature regulation.
1. The port on iPhone has no purpose anymore, beyond emergency charging, diagnostics, and recovery. The average user can and will charge wirelessly overnight and never need to plug the device in, ever.
2. iPhone is in a completely different league from MacBook and iPad...both in purpose and volume. Apple switch to USB-C on iPad Pro because they got something specific out of it that was desired for the device (4k video out). They didn't switch just because. And Apple is not about to switch to anything when the iPhone Lightning install base is in the billions of units.
3. iPhone is an actual portable device that gets used everywhere...not just on the desk, the couch, and the coffee shop like MacBook and iPad. USB-A and Lightning infrastructure is everywhere. There is no incentive to switch away. Too many accessories that people rely on with Lightning built in. Too many USB-A ports in the wild that people rely on.
In short, Nope. Not happening.
So...you don't understand the product at all do you?
What a stupid strategy.