I volunteer twice a week at my local State Park doing native plant restoration work in the field and nursery. Involves a lot of grubbing around in dirt and chopping through invasive plants. The iPhone in my pants pocket regularly gets tiny seeds, sand grains, and other debris in the Lightning port. I have accumulated a small arsenal of specialized tools to remove it. Hoping USB-C will make it better, or at least not worse. I know I could buy an expensive Otterbox type of protective case, but don’t want to have that on the other 90% of the time. A small easily removable plastic port plug would be great, but haven’t found one.
Just cut the lightning plug off your last old cable before you chuck it out and plug it into the ph port. It will not fall out, but the slight disadvantage will be the protrusion of the excess plug unless you cut it nearly flush.
There will be a narrow range of people who are affected, but it will nowhere as bad as the worst-case predictions. Likewise it will it not be as rosy and bumpless as the best case predictions. Even those who are naive about which cable to buy for charging will balk at the high price of Thunderbolt cables and end up with a cheaper charging-only or low data rate cable. I also expect to start seeing more and more Lightning accessories appearing at garage sales and flea markets, just like we saw and still see with 30-pin connector equipped stuff. In fact, it should be lighter since wireless accessories in general have been more prevalent during Lightning’s heyday than they were prior to Lightning.
I still think the blind plugability of Lightning is better than USB-C. But I also know that on more than one occasion I found that I had inserted a Lightning plug into a gap between an iPad’s case and its chassis and missed the Lightning socket altogether. First noticed it on the iPad mini and then again on the iPad Air, which are both thin designs. Next day, I see the battery level has gone down when I thought it was on the charger. Doh! Totally goofy thing to do. But what can I say? It happened.
Disagree with the writer. USB-C has been the standard for gadgets for years. Even if you only use Apple products whenever possible, the author himself states that Macs adopted USB-C in 2015. Everyone else? Headphones and pretty much every other gadget you can think of uses USB-C, including $10 USB-C earbuds for (presumably Android) phones and tablets. USB-C docks, dongles etc. are among the most popular items on shopping sites for a reason. If this wasn't the case the EU would have never had a basis to mandate USB-C to Apple to begin with. So this is nothing like the eleven years ago switch from the 30-pin connector to the lightning pin at all. Technology, the market etc. were entirely different back then. And it is precisely because USB-C has been so widely used for so long that finding good cables that can be used for both charging and data is easy. Even some bargain brands like Amazon Basics work quite well for everyone who isn't a digital media pro or someone else who has the most demanding requirements, and those people are going to buy their cables from Apple anyway. Also, you are pretending as if third party lightning cables don't exist.
Whatever reasons Apple had for avoiding USB-C on their best selling products, unless you work for able and are contractually obligated to toe the company line, you can't pretend that the reason for it was the consumer. If anything the opposite is true: there will be another option out there for high quality USB-C cables if you need them to transfer data from your Android phone to your Windows computer (for example), and Mac and iPad Pro users will be able to use their Apple-provided cables for those products on iPhones etc. too.
What exactly are you disagreeing with in the article?
See below. As well as the title, which below is fully consistent with. And especially the last sentence. It was indeed a pain, but his using something that was actually true in support of a claim that is extremely dubious was particularly beyond the pale. Also - and I should have made this a bigger point in my immediate rebuttal - the author is depending as if bad third party lightning cables haven't existed since basically day one. Or as if terrible third party 30 pin connectors weren't in the Wal-Mart bargain bin previously. The only way to be absolutely certain to get good cables for your Apple tech has always been to buy them from Apple. Going from Apple's proprietary standard to a universal standard isn't going to change that. Remember the headphone jack? If there ever was a universal standard that was it, and the best way to guarantee quality earbuds was to buy them from Apple.
But the iPhone 15 USB-C shift is likely to create havoc, at least in the short term, for millions of other customers who will find the new connector to be another complication when it comes time to upgrade or replace their iPhone.
For the past decade, those folks have been buying Lightning-equipped cables and accessories. They've invested, for lack of a better term, in the connectivity, and they're only reluctantly going to be getting on board with a new connector that makes their existing gear obsolete. Those with really long memories will remember the noisy transition from the 30-pin Dock Connector when there were far fewer iPhone users.
Oh please stop. What nonsensical drama this article is. People are always buying new stuff that requires a new cable that will take a few seconds to figure out. Another big benefit of this change is price. At Best Buy was looking for a new USB-C cable and noticed that the Lightening ones are a lot more expensive. One cable to rule them all! And good to see Europe leading the way for ‘Merica in this and the App Store access.
Whatever reasons Apple had for avoiding USB-C on their best selling products, unless you work for able and are contractually obligated to toe the company line, you can't pretend that the reason for it was the consumer.
Sure I can. At the tune Lightning was introduced your two main alternatives were mini and micro USB. Both sucked and the Lightning connector itself was a design masterpiece: Solid, reversible, easy to connect, and once connected it stayed in place.
If you've been in the iPhone environment, then you have Lightning cables and you probably have Lightning accessories, docks, and so on, and transitioning to a new connector, no matter what that connector might be, is still going to be a transition where you leave all of that old stuff behind and buy new stuff.
It's the kind of thing you really, really don't want to do too often.
Good article, thanks. Maybe others can comment on their thoughts of a "USB-C to lightning dongle" I expect many will be willing to buy to "be sure I can still use all my cables I paid for."
Oh, and I wonder if someone will write an app to run on your mac connected to a iPhone with a USB-C cable that will identify the cable's capability. Possible?
You can already find USB-C to Lightning (or is it Lightning to USB-C? F-M) adapters on Amazon, but they're all companies you've likely never heard of.
I suspect Belkin, Satechi, and other name brands will jump on that bandwagon right away.
I volunteer twice a week at my local State Park doing native plant restoration work in the field and nursery. Involves a lot of grubbing around in dirt and chopping through invasive plants. The iPhone in my pants pocket regularly gets tiny seeds, sand grains, and other debris in the Lightning port. I have accumulated a small arsenal of specialized tools to remove it. Hoping USB-C will make it better, or at least not worse. I know I could buy an expensive Otterbox type of protective case, but don’t want to have that on the other 90% of the time. A small easily removable plastic port plug would be great, but haven’t found one.
The blade in the middle of the USB-C port may keep larger debris out, but it will trap smaller stuff more easily. The Lightning port is easier to clean out and in general less easily damaged.
If you search "USB-C dust plug" or "Lightning dust plug" you will find quite a few on Amazon and direct.
Amazon sells female Lightning to male USB-C data AND power adaptors in 3 packs for $6.66. So what’s the problem?
And they’re checked by Apple and tested by UL or another reputable lab, are they? Over the years, cheap, imported, third-party vendor-offered cable and charging tat sold over Amazon offered too often offered spontaneous combustion as an added “feature.”
Amazon sells female Lightning to male USB-C data AND power adaptors in 3 packs for $6.66. So what’s the problem?
And they’re checked by Apple and tested by UL or another reputable lab, are they? Over the years, cheap, imported, third-party vendor-offered cable and charging tat sold over Amazon offered too often offered spontaneous combustion as an added “feature.”
The devices in question are just dumb metal to metal pin adapters. There’s not really anything to worry about.
Lightning (female) to USB C (male) adapters are cheap (@ $3.33/unit in packs of 3+) and readily available. No problem that I can see in salvaging legacy chargers and cables.
Between iPads, iPhones and Macs there is already a mish-mash of interfaces. Arguably Apple could have switched to USB-C earlier to coincide with iPads and Macs but we all knew the bump was coming. Bump.
Someone said the only thing constant is change. I'm still using a 30-pin connector on two iPod Classics (one with a third-party installed battery & disk drive). I can remember using a PS2 to USB converter on a Dell desktop that had a bunch of RCA type Audio Video connectors (I think it had a single VERY low speed USB port). I think that mid-90s Dell had at least on serial port and a Centronics parallel printer/tape/CD-rom/external disk port. There have been a LOT of video connectors that are not built for today's 4k and 8k displays.
My only complaint on USB-C/Thunderbolt cables is that the standard committee failed to require easily identifiable markings on the cable. Hope with the next generation of USB/TB this will change (by USB-5 and TB-5, please).
I've had issues with attaching the lightning cable to an iPhone in heavy-duty (Otterbox) protective cases; hope that USB-C will be easier with cases.
Likely, we will have some new connectors in the future. Maybe a new, high speed wireless option for peripherals?
Then again, a significant percentage of people have, over the past few years, already switched to wireless MagSafe charging and the Lightning to USB change will be of little consequence.
It depends.
For truly fast charging, wired is the only way to go. Wireless is great for convenience and people who don't have good dexterity.
Now that USB-C is virtually here, reverse wired charging would be a nice addition.
Wired charging is faster, more efficient and, most importantly, more reliable. I tried wireless charging and quickly abandoned it when I woke up to a dead phone.
Comments
I still think the blind plugability of Lightning is better than USB-C. But I also know that on more than one occasion I found that I had inserted a Lightning plug into a gap between an iPad’s case and its chassis and missed the Lightning socket altogether. First noticed it on the iPad mini and then again on the iPad Air, which are both thin designs. Next day, I see the battery level has gone down when I thought it was on the charger. Doh! Totally goofy thing to do. But what can I say? It happened.
If you've been in the iPhone environment, then you have Lightning cables and you probably have Lightning accessories, docks, and so on, and transitioning to a new connector, no matter what that connector might be, is still going to be a transition where you leave all of that old stuff behind and buy new stuff.
It's the kind of thing you really, really don't want to do too often.
I suspect Belkin, Satechi, and other name brands will jump on that bandwagon right away.
If you search "USB-C dust plug" or "Lightning dust plug" you will find quite a few on Amazon and direct.
My only complaint on USB-C/Thunderbolt cables is that the standard committee failed to require easily identifiable markings on the cable. Hope with the next generation of USB/TB this will change (by USB-5 and TB-5, please).
I've had issues with attaching the lightning cable to an iPhone in heavy-duty (Otterbox) protective cases; hope that USB-C will be easier with cases.
Likely, we will have some new connectors in the future. Maybe a new, high speed wireless option for peripherals?