I hope that solution also includes a provision for hard wired connected car players.
To be honest you can buy pretty cheap connected bluetooth receivers so no need for a wire to actual phone.
Maybe for cars from the 90s. Most new cars have the stereo system so completely integrated into the vehicle that you cannot replace them. So no, your solution does not work with 99% of the cars on the road today that offer CarPlay. And Bluetooth is awful for listening to music. The digital connection with USB is far superior for audio quality, and CarPlay functionality.
The first method involves a user putting the iPhone into a manual recovery mode, triggering the Internet Restore broadcast. This is picked up by nearby Macs or a PC with iTunes installed, which will bring up prompts to guide the user through the rest of the restoration.
The second way is for the device itself to enter the mode automatically, again bringing up the same prompts. A third apparently involves using Bluetooth as a "last resort" measure to broadcast the signal and for data transfers.
Completely wireless recovery. What could possibly go wrong?
If you maintain your AppleCare+, very little could go seriously wrong. At least nothing that a trip to the Apple Store couldn't cure.
An Apple Store employee won't have better luck under the same circumstances with internet recovery. AppleCare+ still expires after 2 years and many people keep their phones much longer than that. And not everyone lives close to an Apple Store to take their phone in for service.
As for the 'slow' restore process. I'm not sure that should be a problem.
In an Enterprise environment, it is a huge problem because you can't exactly tell your employee that fixing their iPhone is going to be an all day process because the Internet Recovery is so slow. Even for a general consumer, losing total access to their phone for many hours is a big problem, when the current recovery does not take long at all.
This is not a problem that requires a solution. This is removing a feature to cause many problems...which apparently Apple seems to be good at doing these days.
Is this another butterfly key experiment? Finding a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist?
Also, how will this affect the 3rd party market that Apple depends on long term?
I know Apple has been talking about this for a few years, just like they have been looking into cellular Macs. I just hope in this case it never happens. At least, not until they have a solid plan to access your device if both the wifi and cellular connectivity takes a shit on you and you don’t have a current backup.
Please don’t do this Apple. Not in 2021. Not ever. I’m a figure skater and I can tell you… every single skater physically plugs their phone into some kind of ancient skating rink sound system. These systems do not have Bluetooth and likely never will. Not anytime soon. Or ever. And every rink is different. Sometimes you’re plugging into a car stereo in a homemade box. Sometimes you’re plugging directly into a PA with a 3 pin microphone cord. Sometimes you’re plugging into a rack of stereo gear. Sometimes it’s literally just some homemade plywood box with knobs and ports soldered into a PA from the 1970s. Never have I ever seen a rink with Bluetooth capabilities. Ever. Not even at National Training Centres where Olympic and World skaters train. If you think cars are behind in terms of their sound systems, you haven’t seen anything until you’ve see whatever some Centennial rink from the ‘60s has rigged up.
It's not a bad 'idea' but is it really necessary? Is a single port such a big deal?
I don't doubt we're heading in that direction but it seems too soon. Especially for iPhone 13.
What would happen with charging? It would be suicidal to remove wired charging unless something equally fast was available.
As for the 'slow' restore process. I'm not sure that should be a problem.
Not disagreeing, but clarifying. I would have said:
' It would be suicidal to remove wired charging unless something equally fast was widely available."
While Apple could likely push all homeowners to charge their phones wirelessly, what happens in cars where people depend on wires both to access CarPlay as well as to charge their phones during long trips using AppleMaps. I haven't seen any statistics but I suspect the number of cars set up for wireless charging in minuscule.
I too think there is no doubt Apple is headed in a portless direction. But they have some leg work to do first before they can start on that journey.
And, part of that may be the auto makers themselves who want to push their own proprietary mobile systems. They have not been overly quick to install such things as iPhone holders -- particularly ones that can wirelessly charge the phone
Interestingly enough, I was reading a review of the VW ID 4, and they had a wireless charger in the center console, plus multiple type C connection for both front and back passengers. I'm guessing that this isn't really a concern with current vehicles, but would be a concern with legacy vehicles. The solution would be for the owner to source their own wireless charger. Not a big deal, in my opinion.
The first method involves a user putting the iPhone into a manual recovery mode, triggering the Internet Restore broadcast. This is picked up by nearby Macs or a PC with iTunes installed, which will bring up prompts to guide the user through the rest of the restoration.
The second way is for the device itself to enter the mode automatically, again bringing up the same prompts. A third apparently involves using Bluetooth as a "last resort" measure to broadcast the signal and for data transfers.
Completely wireless recovery. What could possibly go wrong?
Are you suggesting things don't go wrong w/ every single device by every manufacturer, today? Clearly they do.
Apple has been producing techie marvels for almost as long as I've been alive. If they implement this (despite the handwaving, it's only a rumor at this point), I'm sure they will figure it out. They always do. People deny, people panic, people get mad, and then...acceptance. It is the way.
Lately, their techie marvels are riddled with problems. Look at all the problems with the M1 Macs, most recently the excessive read/writes on the SSDs, significantly reducing the life of the flash storage which renders the Mac completely useless and not repairable without a complete motherboard replacement. Apple over the past few years has been to release half-baked stuff and 'promise' features many months later. They did a great job figuring out AirPower, and most recently could not figure out a battery pack for the iPhone, likely scrapping that project too. Zero benefit to a portless phone when their recovery process still requires a Mac or PC to restore the phone. Doing it over Wi-Fi (or worse, Bluetooth), just adds pain to the process...and a significant slowdown. Removing the port does nothing to improve the functionality of the phone, it just takes away many useful features.
The SSD issue likely isn't a problem for all but a small number of users. Quite a bit of hysteria in the reports.
"An unofficial statement to AppleInsider from a source within Apple said: "While we're looking into the reports, know that the SMART data being reported to the third-party utility is incorrect, as it pertains to wear on our SSDs". But of course, I'll wait for awhile to see what's really going on, yet another reason to stay away from the bleeding edge of early purchase.
Apple looking to remove the physical connection to the iPhone doesn't frighten me; it's just another evolution, like removing the 3 mm audio jack. Lots of pearl clutching, but now, we all take it for granted, and most of us have already, or will be, moving on to wireless audio.
Truly wireless iPhone sounds awesome, as long as it come with some benefits like being much thinner or significantly longer battery life (what else could we get in return?). I’m sure a lot of people would be upset about it, just like many other examples where Apple has used their leverage to push for technology change/evolution for the ecosystems that surround their products. I think we’ll add it to the list of things people think they’ll miss and then 2 years later realize they don’t need (but don’t quote me if they add HDMI back to the MacBook Pro...)
As far as charging as you do other stuff goes - try MagSafe! I think people get this impression that you can’t do stuff with your phone when it’s wireless charging and maybe this is true for a lot of Qi chargers, but MagSafe does let you pick up your phone and move it around while continuing to charge.
Speaking of MagSafe... is there a missed opportunity here to include data transfer capabilities? I feel like that could sort-of bridge the gap between people doing traditional wired things (think wired CarPlay - which is still the case for many new or 1-2 year old vehicles) and actual wireless technologies. Could even work like an adapter with MagSafe on one side and female lightning on the other. Dongle life!
Long story short I would love a port-less iPhone, but I would need some kind of Apple-made, reliable wireless adapter for the wired CarPlay in my 2020 A4.
Or, a few years down the line people will still be asking 'why?'
Wholesale switch to USB-C in 2016 and still no sign of those 'legacy' ports disappearing.
Butterfly Keyboard
Touch Bar?
Dubious reasoning for not shipping chargers
One biometrics option
...
There are plenty of decisions that they didn't get right.
Actually, there's very few decisions that Apple didn't get right, and very few were actually became a issue among users, though the Butterfly Keyboard certainly was, but even then, it affected a fairly small percentage of all users. Apple fixed that, got it right, over time.
TB is an interesting example that I bring up, given that Apple has been the earliest and greatest supporter of that technology, it's ubiquitous in Mac's, and continues that with the transition to USB 4. I certainly would like to see USB 4 on the next iPad Pro.
TB made connection to SSD's and monitors, fast, reliable, and easy. Anecdotally, I have a PC using friend that raves about TB on his Dell notebook, connected thru a dock, to all his other legacy connections and dual monitors.
When you think about it, it's obvious that Apple is going to get rid of the Lightning Port vs replacing it with a type C connector. This appears ordained to me, otherwise, Apple would have replaced Lightning long ago. Wireless 6E, 5G, and UWB will be connections of the future.
Surely, you of all people would agree that 5G in itself is sufficiently robust, and secure, to do a restore, so maybe there really isn't any need for that Lightning Port, at least in the near future.
So that just leaves the charging issue; how fast can Apple charge wirelessly, and how much will Apple be able to improve that before they remove the Lightning port.
I hope that solution also includes a provision for hard wired connected car players.
To be honest you can buy pretty cheap connected bluetooth receivers so no need for a wire to actual phone.
Maybe for cars from the 90s. Most new cars have the stereo system so completely integrated into the vehicle that you cannot replace them. So no, your solution does not work with 99% of the cars on the road today that offer CarPlay. And Bluetooth is awful for listening to music. The digital connection with USB is far superior for audio quality, and CarPlay functionality.
You don't understand how Wireless Carplay works.
A connection is first established over Bluetooth, which then switches the Carplay connection over to its own wifi network (a wifi network provided by the wirelss carplay capable head unit). Data from phone to Carplay unit is then all over a wifi connection.
I have fitted my wired Mazda Carplay unit with a wireless dongle that provides the same wireless Carplay functionality - and a USB out power port to power a Qi mat to leave your pohne on to charge while driving.
I hope that solution also includes a provision for hard wired connected car players.
To be honest you can buy pretty cheap connected bluetooth receivers so no need for a wire to actual phone.
Maybe for cars from the 90s. Most new cars have the stereo system so completely integrated into the vehicle that you cannot replace them. So no, your solution does not work with 99% of the cars on the road today that offer CarPlay. And Bluetooth is awful for listening to music. The digital connection with USB is far superior for audio quality, and CarPlay functionality.
Cars much later than the 90's have an aux in. In fact I have never seen a car without. You can get a quality Bluetooth dongle for that, or even a wifi dongle. Not CarPlay, but with your phone in a mount it works well. I have had that setup in my last two cars, both in the 2000's.
Lately, their techie marvels are riddled with problems. Look at all the problems with the M1 Macs, most recently the excessive read/writes on the SSDs, significantly reducing the life of the flash storage which renders the Mac completely useless and not repairable without a complete motherboard replacement. Apple over the past few years has been to release half-baked stuff and 'promise' features many months later. They did a great job figuring out AirPower, and most recently could not figure out a battery pack for the iPhone, likely scrapping that project too. Zero benefit to a portless phone when their recovery process still requires a Mac or PC to restore the phone. Doing it over Wi-Fi (or worse, Bluetooth), just adds pain to the process...and a significant slowdown. Removing the port does nothing to improve the functionality of the phone, it just takes away many useful features.
The whole read/write issue is still just a theory since the tools that are being used to measure this were not designed for the M1 architecture.
Why I know for sure is that the M1 is not only significantly faster but far more fluid and responsive that the Intel model it replaced. The M1 never gets hot and I've never heard the fan, which is a huge contrast with the Intel model which was like a hairdryer; no PC can match the M1 in this regard. Then there is the truly insane battery life. Sometimes I forget to plug it in and at the end of the day the battery is still not dead, which again is a huge contrast to the Intel model which was lucky to get 3 hours and certainly not over 10 hours like my M1. There are of course issues BUT I would NEVER go back to an Intel MBP. The two ports is a downside yet but I use a USB-C dock on the go and a Thunderbolt dock at home, so it's a non-issue.
Intel has a lot of catching up to do. Let me know when they have a quiet, cool and fast laptop with all day battery life that can match the M1's performance.
The first method involves a user putting the iPhone into a manual recovery mode, triggering the Internet Restore broadcast. This is picked up by nearby Macs or a PC with iTunes installed, which will bring up prompts to guide the user through the rest of the restoration.
The second way is for the device itself to enter the mode automatically, again bringing up the same prompts. A third apparently involves using Bluetooth as a "last resort" measure to broadcast the signal and for data transfers.
Completely wireless recovery. What could possibly go wrong?
If you maintain your AppleCare+, very little could go seriously wrong. At least nothing that a trip to the Apple Store couldn't cure.
An Apple Store employee won't have better luck under the same circumstances with internet recovery. AppleCare+ still expires after 2 years and many people keep their phones much longer than that. And not everyone lives close to an Apple Store to take their phone in for service.
You didn't know that, with AppleCare+ you get more than an Apple Store employee trying their "luck" with it?
And, you also didn't know that you can extend AppleCare+ indefinitely when the 2 years expire?
And, you also didn't know that, if you choose not to drive to an Apple Store that you can get online and mail in service?
Apparently not.
So, as I said: "If you maintain your AppleCare+, very little could go seriously wrong.
At least nothing that a trip to the Apple Store couldn't cure."
I hope that solution also includes a provision for hard wired connected car players.
To be honest you can buy pretty cheap connected bluetooth receivers so no need for a wire to actual phone.
Maybe for cars from the 90s. Most new cars have the stereo system so completely integrated into the vehicle that you cannot replace them. So no, your solution does not work with 99% of the cars on the road today that offer CarPlay. And Bluetooth is awful for listening to music. The digital connection with USB is far superior for audio quality, and CarPlay functionality.
Cars much later than the 90's have an aux in. In fact I have never seen a car without. You can get a quality Bluetooth dongle for that, or even a wifi dongle. Not CarPlay, but with your phone in a mount it works well. I have had that setup in my last two cars, both in the 2000's.
Actually, that's pretty much how my JVC unit came: it has a Bluetooth dongle going into a USB port in the rear of the unit. It also has an aux in that's never been used. But I use the bluetooth connection almost exclusively. The only exception is when my grandson is with me then he plugs into the unit's USB port so we can listen to that crap he considers music. Other than the poor choice of music, it works very well Yeh, CarPlay would be very nice, but this works well enough for me.
As for the 'slow' restore process. I'm not sure that should be a problem.
In an Enterprise environment, it is a huge problem because you can't exactly tell your employee that fixing their iPhone is going to be an all day process because the Internet Recovery is so slow. Even for a general consumer, losing total access to their phone for many hours is a big problem, when the current recovery does not take long at all.
This is not a problem that requires a solution. This is removing a feature to cause many problems...which apparently Apple seems to be good at doing these days.
What I meant was it shouldn't be slow in the first place. There is now no tecnological impediment to achieving a restore (or even mass restores in a corporate setting) at (no pun intended) lightning speed.
Please don’t do this Apple. Not in 2021. Not ever. I’m a figure skater and I can tell you… every single skater physically plugs their phone into some kind of ancient skating rink sound system. These systems do not have Bluetooth and likely never will. Not anytime soon. Or ever. And every rink is different. Sometimes you’re plugging into a car stereo in a homemade box. Sometimes you’re plugging directly into a PA with a 3 pin microphone cord. Sometimes you’re plugging into a rack of stereo gear. Sometimes it’s literally just some homemade plywood box with knobs and ports soldered into a PA from the 1970s. Never have I ever seen a rink with Bluetooth capabilities. Ever. Not even at National Training Centres where Olympic and World skaters train. If you think cars are behind in terms of their sound systems, you haven’t seen anything until you’ve see whatever some Centennial rink from the ‘60s has rigged up.
These kind of products can help with that use case, they give any standard audio system the ability to use wireless audio:
"The patent does, however, also mention the possibility of wireless data transfer, which also is not necessarily new (I mean, we do have Bluetooth and WiFi after all). But Apple suggests that the data transfer may—or may not—be tied into the induction for the wireless power."
They can transfer the same data they do over Lightning over an induction type connection. This would improve the durability of the devices and cables and would allow using USB-C (or audio, HDMI etc) on cases without adding it to the device. They could even use a light system that is hidden under the glass like the LED light in the camera component ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li-Fi ).
But wifi should be fast enough. The latest iPhone spec lists up to 1.2Gbps over wifi:
Even if it's 400Mbps (50MB/s) real-world and the iPhone OS is around 2-5GB to download, that would take 2 minutes to restore. It would take longer if the download speed is slower but that would be true of every recovery method that needs to download the OS, even with a wired connection. Wireless recovery from a local backup would be much faster. It could be more effective for Apple to just keep a recovery ROM inside the device with the software the system comes with, then a restore can be done in seconds and the user just updates to the latest system. Or it just boots using that software like dual boot and restores the system onto the flash memory while it's booted.
Please don’t do this Apple. Not in 2021. Not ever. I’m a figure skater and I can tell you… every single skater physically plugs their phone into some kind of ancient skating rink sound system. These systems do not have Bluetooth and likely never will. Not anytime soon. Or ever. And every rink is different. Sometimes you’re plugging into a car stereo in a homemade box. Sometimes you’re plugging directly into a PA with a 3 pin microphone cord. Sometimes you’re plugging into a rack of stereo gear. Sometimes it’s literally just some homemade plywood box with knobs and ports soldered into a PA from the 1970s. Never have I ever seen a rink with Bluetooth capabilities. Ever. Not even at National Training Centres where Olympic and World skaters train. If you think cars are behind in terms of their sound systems, you haven’t seen anything until you’ve see whatever some Centennial rink from the ‘60s has rigged up.
I can attest to that. Most of the theaters around where I live are exactly the same way. People plug phones into the PA for smaller productions.
The first method involves a user putting the iPhone into a manual recovery mode, triggering the Internet Restore broadcast. This is picked up by nearby Macs or a PC with iTunes installed, which will bring up prompts to guide the user through the rest of the restoration.
The second way is for the device itself to enter the mode automatically, again bringing up the same prompts. A third apparently involves using Bluetooth as a "last resort" measure to broadcast the signal and for data transfers.
Completely wireless recovery. What could possibly go wrong?
If you maintain your AppleCare+, very little could go seriously wrong. At least nothing that a trip to the Apple Store couldn't cure.
An Apple Store employee won't have better luck under the same circumstances with internet recovery. AppleCare+ still expires after 2 years and many people keep their phones much longer than that. And not everyone lives close to an Apple Store to take their phone in for service.
You didn't know that, with AppleCare+ you get more than an Apple Store employee trying their "luck" with it?
And, you also didn't know that you can extend AppleCare+ indefinitely when the 2 years expire?
And, you also didn't know that, if you choose not to drive to an Apple Store that you can get online and mail in service?
Apparently not.
So, as I said: "If you maintain your AppleCare+, very little could go seriously wrong.
At least nothing that a trip to the Apple Store couldn't cure."
Except what you are arguing is that people should now expect to pay hundreds of dollars to maintain AppleCare plus take a trip to the Apple store to do something they could have done themselves at home with a port. Yeah, that’s progress.
I realize this wouldn’t be a common problem, but that’s not the point. The point is that it’s a major headache when it occurs and it’s not necessary.
I hope that solution also includes a provision for hard wired connected car players.
To be honest you can buy pretty cheap connected bluetooth receivers so no need for a wire to actual phone.
Maybe for cars from the 90s. Most new cars have the stereo system so completely integrated into the vehicle that you cannot replace them. So no, your solution does not work with 99% of the cars on the road today that offer CarPlay. And Bluetooth is awful for listening to music. The digital connection with USB is far superior for audio quality, and CarPlay functionality.
You don't understand how Wireless Carplay works.
A connection is first established over Bluetooth, which then switches the Carplay connection over to its own wifi network (a wifi network provided by the wirelss carplay capable head unit). Data from phone to Carplay unit is then all over a wifi connection.
I have fitted my wired Mazda Carplay unit with a wireless dongle that provides the same wireless Carplay functionality - and a USB out power port to power a Qi mat to leave your pohne on to charge while driving.
I was looking at buying one of those wireless dongles. From the reviews it sounds like they work great until they don’t.
Then there’s the question - why should we be expected to pay another $150-200 (per car) to maintain the same functionality just because Apple took away a port they didn’t need to take away?
Absolutely horrible idea at this time. Maybe several years from now, but not right now. This would negatively impact the way I use my iPhone. I have a Bose sound dock at my work desk. I listen to my iPhone on it every day. It plugs in via lightning, charges the phone and the music quality is outstanding. There is no bluetooth option, this $500 product would be instantly obsolete. I have an old stereo system in my garage I use when I'm doing woodworking projects. I plug my iPhone into it via the lighting to 3.5mm dongle. I would no longer be able to listen to music on this stereo. When I want to listen to music or watch content on my phone and want noise cancellation, I turn to my Bose QC35 which does not have bluetooth. Again another expensive product I would no longer be able to use on my fancy new iPhone. And when I take long road trips (which I do quite often), I use the USB port in my car to plug in my phone. This allows me to play music (at better quality than bluetooth), use Apple Maps the entire trip, and keep the phone charged at the same time.
As an iPhone user since the 3GS, this would be the first time I would consider switching to another brand. I loathe the idea. I love my iPhone. Yes, another brand would force me to use the 3.5mm jack on my sound dock, so I would lose the charging advantage, but at least I could still play music on it. All my other uses of the port would continue to work on a different phone.
The first method involves a user putting the iPhone into a manual recovery mode, triggering the Internet Restore broadcast. This is picked up by nearby Macs or a PC with iTunes installed, which will bring up prompts to guide the user through the rest of the restoration.
The second way is for the device itself to enter the mode automatically, again bringing up the same prompts. A third apparently involves using Bluetooth as a "last resort" measure to broadcast the signal and for data transfers.
Completely wireless recovery. What could possibly go wrong?
If you maintain your AppleCare+, very little could go seriously wrong. At least nothing that a trip to the Apple Store couldn't cure.
An Apple Store employee won't have better luck under the same circumstances with internet recovery. AppleCare+ still expires after 2 years and many people keep their phones much longer than that. And not everyone lives close to an Apple Store to take their phone in for service.
You didn't know that, with AppleCare+ you get more than an Apple Store employee trying their "luck" with it?
And, you also didn't know that you can extend AppleCare+ indefinitely when the 2 years expire?
And, you also didn't know that, if you choose not to drive to an Apple Store that you can get online and mail in service?
Apparently not.
So, as I said: "If you maintain your AppleCare+, very little could go seriously wrong.
At least nothing that a trip to the Apple Store couldn't cure."
Except what you are arguing is that people should now expect to pay hundreds of dollars to maintain AppleCare plus take a trip to the Apple store to do something they could have done themselves at home with a port. Yeah, that’s progress.
I realize this wouldn’t be a common problem, but that’s not the point. The point is that it’s a major headache when it occurs and it’s not necessary.
Yeh, pretty much. I figure:
No AppleCare+ = Foolish user (unless its so old you don't care if it works or not)
For the cost of a Big Mac & Fries meal each month you can be assured you will have a working iPhone -- and you won't have to worry about having a heart attack or being able to button your pants.
The first method involves a user putting the iPhone into a manual recovery mode, triggering the Internet Restore broadcast. This is picked up by nearby Macs or a PC with iTunes installed, which will bring up prompts to guide the user through the rest of the restoration.
The second way is for the device itself to enter the mode automatically, again bringing up the same prompts. A third apparently involves using Bluetooth as a "last resort" measure to broadcast the signal and for data transfers.
Completely wireless recovery. What could possibly go wrong?
If you maintain your AppleCare+, very little could go seriously wrong. At least nothing that a trip to the Apple Store couldn't cure.
An Apple Store employee won't have better luck under the same circumstances with internet recovery. AppleCare+ still expires after 2 years and many people keep their phones much longer than that. And not everyone lives close to an Apple Store to take their phone in for service.
You didn't know that, with AppleCare+ you get more than an Apple Store employee trying their "luck" with it?
And, you also didn't know that you can extend AppleCare+ indefinitely when the 2 years expire?
And, you also didn't know that, if you choose not to drive to an Apple Store that you can get online and mail in service?
Apparently not.
So, as I said: "If you maintain your AppleCare+, very little could go seriously wrong.
At least nothing that a trip to the Apple Store couldn't cure."
Except what you are arguing is that people should now expect to pay hundreds of dollars to maintain AppleCare plus take a trip to the Apple store to do something they could have done themselves at home with a port. Yeah, that’s progress.
I realize this wouldn’t be a common problem, but that’s not the point. The point is that it’s a major headache when it occurs and it’s not necessary.
Yeh, pretty much. I figure:
No AppleCare+ = Foolish user (unless its so old you don't care if it works or not)
For the cost of a Big Mac & Fries meal each month you can be assured you will have a working iPhone -- and you won't have to worry about having a heart attack or being able to button your pants.
... Apple takes care of its customers!
Apple customers are idiots if their experience is degraded due to Apple dropping a port. Got it.
Comments
Maybe for cars from the 90s. Most new cars have the stereo system so completely integrated into the vehicle that you cannot replace them. So no, your solution does not work with 99% of the cars on the road today that offer CarPlay. And Bluetooth is awful for listening to music. The digital connection with USB is far superior for audio quality, and CarPlay functionality.
An Apple Store employee won't have better luck under the same circumstances with internet recovery. AppleCare+ still expires after 2 years and many people keep their phones much longer than that. And not everyone lives close to an Apple Store to take their phone in for service.
In an Enterprise environment, it is a huge problem because you can't exactly tell your employee that fixing their iPhone is going to be an all day process because the Internet Recovery is so slow. Even for a general consumer, losing total access to their phone for many hours is a big problem, when the current recovery does not take long at all.
This is not a problem that requires a solution. This is removing a feature to cause many problems...which apparently Apple seems to be good at doing these days.
The SSD issue likely isn't a problem for all but a small number of users. Quite a bit of hysteria in the reports.
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/m1-macbook-ssds-are-facing-a-big-problem-and-it-could-kill-your-laptop
Plenty of details, but this stands out;
Apple's response;
"An unofficial statement to AppleInsider from a source within Apple said: "While we're looking into the reports, know that the SMART data being reported to the third-party utility is incorrect, as it pertains to wear on our SSDs". But of course, I'll wait for awhile to see what's really going on, yet another reason to stay away from the bleeding edge of early purchase.
Apple looking to remove the physical connection to the iPhone doesn't frighten me; it's just another evolution, like removing the 3 mm audio jack. Lots of pearl clutching, but now, we all take it for granted, and most of us have already, or will be, moving on to wireless audio.
This too shall pass.
TB is an interesting example that I bring up, given that Apple has been the earliest and greatest supporter of that technology, it's ubiquitous in Mac's, and continues that with the transition to USB 4. I certainly would like to see USB 4 on the next iPad Pro.
TB made connection to SSD's and monitors, fast, reliable, and easy. Anecdotally, I have a PC using friend that raves about TB on his Dell notebook, connected thru a dock, to all his other legacy connections and dual monitors.
When you think about it, it's obvious that Apple is going to get rid of the Lightning Port vs replacing it with a type C connector. This appears ordained to me, otherwise, Apple would have replaced Lightning long ago. Wireless 6E, 5G, and UWB will be connections of the future.
Surely, you of all people would agree that 5G in itself is sufficiently robust, and secure, to do a restore, so maybe there really isn't any need for that Lightning Port, at least in the near future.
So that just leaves the charging issue; how fast can Apple charge wirelessly, and how much will Apple be able to improve that before they remove the Lightning port.
A connection is first established over Bluetooth, which then switches the Carplay connection over to its own wifi network (a wifi network provided by the wirelss carplay capable head unit).
Data from phone to Carplay unit is then all over a wifi connection.
I have fitted my wired Mazda Carplay unit with a wireless dongle that provides the same wireless Carplay functionality - and a USB out power port to power a Qi mat to leave your pohne on to charge while driving.
Why I know for sure is that the M1 is not only significantly faster but far more fluid and responsive that the Intel model it replaced. The M1 never gets hot and I've never heard the fan, which is a huge contrast with the Intel model which was like a hairdryer; no PC can match the M1 in this regard. Then there is the truly insane battery life. Sometimes I forget to plug it in and at the end of the day the battery is still not dead, which again is a huge contrast to the Intel model which was lucky to get 3 hours and certainly not over 10 hours like my M1. There are of course issues BUT I would NEVER go back to an Intel MBP. The two ports is a downside yet but I use a USB-C dock on the go and a Thunderbolt dock at home, so it's a non-issue.
Intel has a lot of catching up to do. Let me know when they have a quiet, cool and fast laptop with all day battery life that can match the M1's performance.
"If you maintain your AppleCare+, very little could go seriously wrong. At least nothing that a trip to the Apple Store couldn't cure."
Actually, that's pretty much how my JVC unit came: it has a Bluetooth dongle going into a USB port in the rear of the unit. It also has an aux in that's never been used. But I use the bluetooth connection almost exclusively. The only exception is when my grandson is with me then he plugs into the unit's USB port so we can listen to that crap he considers music. Other than the poor choice of music, it works very well Yeh, CarPlay would be very nice, but this works well enough for me.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08H8LK73P
Apple also noted the ability to transfer data in an old patent for their wireless charging systems, back in 2007:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2007/02/7067/
"The patent does, however, also mention the possibility of wireless data transfer, which also is not necessarily new (I mean, we do have Bluetooth and WiFi after all). But Apple suggests that the data transfer may—or may not—be tied into the induction for the wireless power."
They can transfer the same data they do over Lightning over an induction type connection. This would improve the durability of the devices and cables and would allow using USB-C (or audio, HDMI etc) on cases without adding it to the device. They could even use a light system that is hidden under the glass like the LED light in the camera component ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li-Fi ).
But wifi should be fast enough. The latest iPhone spec lists up to 1.2Gbps over wifi:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/guide/deployment-reference-ios/apd1c22e481c/web
Even if it's 400Mbps (50MB/s) real-world and the iPhone OS is around 2-5GB to download, that would take 2 minutes to restore. It would take longer if the download speed is slower but that would be true of every recovery method that needs to download the OS, even with a wired connection. Wireless recovery from a local backup would be much faster. It could be more effective for Apple to just keep a recovery ROM inside the device with the software the system comes with, then a restore can be done in seconds and the user just updates to the latest system. Or it just boots using that software like dual boot and restores the system onto the flash memory while it's booted.
As an iPhone user since the 3GS, this would be the first time I would consider switching to another brand. I loathe the idea. I love my iPhone. Yes, another brand would force me to use the 3.5mm jack on my sound dock, so I would lose the charging advantage, but at least I could still play music on it. All my other uses of the port would continue to work on a different phone.