JohnC1959

Clever.   While I am in favor to law enforcement being able to unlock a phone obtained under warrant, I can't see any way of doing that without a hacker eventually using that very same method to break into a phone.

mike1 said:

This is all well and good until something better is developed and all manufacturers are stuck using the old version because the EU mandated a specific connector. Can't wait until the rest of the world moves on to something better/faster/smaller/cheaper and the EU countries are stuck with this.

Personally, I think the idea of such mandates is (or should be) that when someone comes up with the next better way the definition of better must weigh very heavily the advantages of having most everyone using the very same standard.   If such a new idea meets that test then most everyone moves onto to that next new thing using some transition means that is a required part of that great new idea.

One of the great things about USBC is that the exact same connector can be used with a hierarchy of different standards with varying levels of capability (charging speeds, transfer rates, support for monitors, etc.).   This partially avoids the standard becoming old and obsolete any time soon.

Upgraded my wife's and my 13 pros to 16 pros.   One feature I wanted was the satellite connectivity that only first appeared on the 14 phones.   Who would have known that just a week after getting the phone I needed to use that feature for messages during the Verizon outage.   A little awkward having to keep the phone aimed at the satellite (it guides you where to point) but that's minor given that I could indeed send messages.

This is the natural evolution of all new technology.   Same happened with personal computers.    When they first come out they are terrible.   Then experience and a larger base of consumers allows many refinements in the design.    Eventually they just work for 90% of uses.    So a company just incrementally improves while hoping to eventually create some brand new product category to get folks excited again.

grandact73 said:

This is horrible news for Apple, especially since newer phones these days last longer. This means people are more willing to hold onto their old phones and not buy the new ones.

Same things happened with computers and their operating systems.   They used to be so horrible that any upgrade had people drooling.   Eventually they got good enough to satisfy most common uses for a long while.   Some companies like Apple compensate for this by building an 'ecosystem' of devices and services.   That way once you're invested in the company you tend to buy other products and then subscription services.   Anyway, Apple seems to be doing just fine so far.