iPhone not migrating to USB-C or getting Touch ID on power button any time soon

AppleInsider · March 1, 2021 4:20PM

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that market and financial benefits will mean Apple skips USB-C for iPhones, and will also not move Touch ID to the power button at any time in the near future.

Despite moving the iPad Pro to USB-C charging instead of Lightning, back in 2018, Apple has kept the iPhone on the older technology. Now an analyst says it appears Apple will neither adopt USB-C nor Touch ID on the iPhone.

"The market expects the iPhone to abandon Lightning in favor of USB-C and equip the power button with the Touch ID sensor," writes Kuo in a note seen by AppleInsider. "Our latest survey indicates that there is no visibility on the current schedule for the iPhone to adopt these two new specifications."

Kuo understands that there are technical issues around waterproofing, but says he believes there are market pressures involved. Specifically, Apple's Made for iPhone (MFi) program is a profitable business that would be affected.

"We believe that USB-C is detrimental to the MFi business's profitability, and its waterproof specification is lower than Lightning and MagSafe," continues Kuo. "Therefore, if the iPhone abandons Lightning in the future, it may directly adopt the portless design with MagSafe support instead of using a USB-C port."

"At present, the MagSafe ecosystem is not mature enough, so the iPhone will continue to use the Lightning port in the foreseeable future," he says.

This isn't to say that Kuo thinks the technology, particularly regarding Touch ID, is not adequate, however.

"We believe that the iPhone will significantly improve the user experience if it adopts the power button with the Touch ID sensor. However, currently, there is no visibility on the timing of adopting this new specification," he concludes.

Apple implemented Touch ID in the sleep/wake button on the iPad Air 4.

longfang · March 1, 2021 5:09PM

Well moving to USB-C would be kinda silly if the goal was to remove the FBI snooping port altogether.

MplsP · March 1, 2021 5:15PM

I'd love to see USB C - it would be really nice for consistency both among apple products and across the smartphone market in general but there is very little advantage to switching iPhones beyond that.

For iPhones, there's little, if anything USB C can do that the lightning connector can't, and physically the lightning connector is actually better, IMO. I has detents giving a more secure lock when you plug it in, and since USB C is a coaxial connector there's a center tab on the female connector which potentially can get bent, but more importantly for cell phones, makes it more difficult to clean lint and debris from the port.

Some sort of Touch ID would be nice since we're all wearing masks now - either in the screen or in the button. Apple already has a button-based Touch ID for iPads, so it would seem natural to incorporate that into their phones.

lukei · March 1, 2021 5:45PM

Has anymore produced a Ming-Chi prediction vs reality comparison?

thedba · March 1, 2021 6:20PM

AppleInsider said:

Kuo understands that there are technical issues around waterproofing, but says he believes there are market pressures involved. Specifically, Apple's Made for iPhone (MFi) programme is a profitable business that would be affected.

I have a very hard time believing this part. Below is Apple's revenue breakdown by product. Cable and other accessories are only a small part of the Wearables, home and accessories category in red. Let's not forget that this same category also includes Apple watch, HomePods, AirPods, AppleTV's, iPhone/iPad cases etc.
So that MFi program is probably just a fraction of that and overall would represent nothing but a rounding error.

My source for the graph below is from https://www.statista.com/statistics/382260/segments-share-revenue-of-apple/. ;

Image: https://forums.appleinsider.com/uploads/editor/0y/qxcmqf32q0zz.png

M68000 · March 1, 2021 6:28PM

I might be in the minority, but I think the lightning connector is great. Seems to be pretty reliable and that is important. Do I care that it’s proprietary to Apple? No.

thedba · March 1, 2021 6:49PM

M68000 said:

I might be in the minority, but I think the lightning connector is great. Seems to be pretty reliable and that is important. Do I care that it’s proprietary to Apple? No.

There's nothing wrong with Lightning. People often forget that it was released a full 2 years before USB C was made available to the public and that it replaced that old 30 pin connector.
Even then there was a whole lot of chest thumping going on about Apple screwing over the poor consumer wanting to sell extra accessories.

MplsP · March 1, 2021 7:09PM

thedba said:

M68000 said:

I might be in the minority, but I think the lightning connector is great. Seems to be pretty reliable and that is important. Do I care that it’s proprietary to Apple? No.

There's nothing wrong with Lightning. People often forget that it was released a full 2 years before USB C was made available to the public and that it replaced that old 30 pin connector.
Even then there was a whole lot of chest thumping going on about Apple screwing over the poor consumer wanting to sell extra accessories.

I lot of people think that if USB C had been available Apple would have used it instead of the lightning connector.

Switching from the 30 pin connector to lighting was painful simply because of the number of 30 pin docks and accessories that were in use (I still see some from time to time,) but lightning sold itself on its merits. I know of no one who wanted to go back to the 30 pin after using lightning for a week. Even today it’s a solid connector.

maclin3 · March 1, 2021 10:49PM

Switching from lightning to USB-C would seem to be a painful and unnecessary switch at a time when we are also switching to, or at least adding, mag safe cable connectors. Adding touch ID back to the iPhone on the other hand, would bring back a very useful feature that we once had but lost with the transition to FaceID. I actually wish that FaceID had not supplanted touch ID but simply been an additional ID option. We’ve now learned what a pain it is to have only one ID option as mask wearing has become necessary. Particularly in retail situations where you want to use contactless payment. Although I have rarely heard it discussed another FaceID issue has caused me a lot of hassle as I cracked the screen on my iPhone XR two weeks after buying it. Face ID stopped working about six months later, seemingly due to the crack impacting the notch (although it doesn’t seem to affect the front facing camera).

flydog · March 1, 2021 11:46PM

M68000 said:

I might be in the minority, but I think the lightning connector is great. Seems to be pretty reliable and that is important. Do I care that it’s proprietary to Apple? No.

The issue is not that it's proprietary. Not a day goes by where I don't accidentally stick a USB-C cable into an iPhone or a lightning cable into an iPad.

flydog · March 1, 2021 11:48PM

longfang said:

Well moving to USB-C would be kinda silly if the goal was to remove the FBI snooping port altogether.

You'll be able to buy a used Apple Car before that happens.

pulseimages · March 2, 2021 12:17AM

I was really counting on the return of the Touch ID to the next generation of iPhones. My first generation SE is five years old and has it’s issues. I’m not crazy about the 2nd generation SE but may have to go that route. Apple can be stubborn as hell!

M68000 · March 2, 2021 1:43AM

pulseimages said:

I was really counting on the return of the Touch ID to the next generation of iPhones. My first generation SE is five years old and has it’s issues. I’m not crazy about the 2nd generation SE but may have to go that route. Apple can be stubborn as hell!

I think it’s coming and as fast as they can. This has been available on android phones for a while now and Apple is behind the times on this.

darkvader · March 2, 2021 1:24PM

I'm disappointed that the EU didn't follow through and force Apple to drop the idiotic proprietary Lightning connector years ago. And that's back when the replacement would have been micro USB. There is zero reason Apple should be allowed to keep using a proprietary connector in 2021.

Lightning is garbage, and it needs to go.

80s_Apple_Guy · March 2, 2021 1:27PM

Just shows the lie of Apple being concerned about e-waste. If they really were, they’d go to USB-C which would cut down on wasted cables as they break and need to be replaced.

longfang · March 2, 2021 1:36PM

80s_Apple_Guy said:

Just shows the lie of Apple being concerned about e-waste. If they really were, they’d go to USB-C which would cut down on wasted cables as they break and need to be replaced.

You say that as if usb-c cables are any more durable than lightning cables.

MplsP · March 2, 2021 2:10PM

darkvader said:

I'm disappointed that the EU didn't follow through and force Apple to drop the idiotic proprietary Lightning connector years ago. And that's back when the replacement would have been micro USB. There is zero reason Apple should be allowed to keep using a proprietary connector in 2021.

Lightning is garbage, and it needs to go.

Just how is it garbage? What improvement would a USB C port bring to an iPhone other than better cable compatibility? In many ways the lightning connector is actually better than USB C (see my post above.)

longfang said:

80s_Apple_Guy said:

Just shows the lie of Apple being concerned about e-waste. If they really were, they’d go to USB-C which would cut down on wasted cables as they break and need to be replaced.

You say that as if usb-c cables are any more durable than lightning cables.

Nominally people would need to buy fewer cables if a USB C cable could serve as a 'universal' cable. In reality, I don't think it would make much difference. Theoretically, a cable used twice as much would wear out twice as fast. There's a large enough base of iPhones that there's probably as many or more lightning cables in circulation than USB C cables right now and people tend to buy dedicated cables to have where they need them.

In the end, I don't think it would make a big difference either way.

jcs2305 · March 2, 2021 2:18PM

lukei said:

Has anymore produced a Ming-Chi prediction vs reality comparison?

According to appletrack he is at 78.2% accuracy.

https://appletrack.org/ming-chi-kuo/

Here is the leaderboard from appletrack for both accuracy & most rumors.

https://appletrack.org/leaderboard/

jcs2305 · March 2, 2021 3:14PM

80s_Apple_Guy said:

Just shows the lie of Apple being concerned about e-waste. If they really were, they’d go to USB-C which would cut down on wasted cables as they break and need to be replaced.

Can you honestly say that USB-C cables are more durable in daily use than Lightning? If a USB-C cable stops working can it be somehow fixed rather than tossed so they aren't wasted?

puiz666 · March 2, 2021 3:53PM

Why not transmit data through MagSafe? I don't trust wireless, and if you ever tried to build and debug an iPhone app over the air, you'll know why. I wish Apple stopped removing things. It may be art, but there are these pesky users with needs, y'know.

pulseimages · March 2, 2021 4:33PM

M68000 said:

pulseimages said:

I was really counting on the return of the Touch ID to the next generation of iPhones. My first generation SE is five years old and has it’s issues. I’m not crazy about the 2nd generation SE but may have to go that route. Apple can be stubborn as hell!

I think it’s coming and as fast as they can. This has been available on android phones for a while now and Apple is behind the times on this.

I know, I’m jealous of my brother-in-laws Samsung Galaxy S10 Ultra with it’s Touch-ID and notchless design.

iPhone not migrating to USB-C or getting Touch ID on power button any time soon

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