Vratislav Holub There has been talk for a long time about whether Apple will switch to the faster and more advanced USB-C for its main product, which is undoubtedly the iPhone. Several different reports refuted these assumptions. According to them, Apple would rather go the route of a completely portless phone than to replace its iconic Lightning, which has been responsible for charging and data transfer in Apple phones since 2012, with the aforementioned solution. But what is the outlook for the next few years? Renowned analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has now commented on this topic.
According to his reports, we should definitely not count on the transition to USB-C in the foreseeable future, for several reasons. In any case, the interesting thing is that the Cupertino company has already adopted this solution for several of its products and probably does not intend to abandon it. We are, of course, talking about MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPad Pro and now also iPad Air. In the case of Apple phones and the transition to USB-C, Apple is specifically bothered by its general openness, freeness and the fact that it is worse in terms of water resistance than Lightning. Finances probably have a huge influence on the progress so far. Apple directly controls the Made For iPhone (MFi) program, when manufacturers have to pay the Californian giant considerable fees for the development, production and sale of certified Lightning accessories.
Gallery
In addition, a possible transition would cause a number of problems, leaving a lot of devices and accessories with a connector that is no longer used in the case of flagship models. For example, we are talking about the entry-level iPad, iPad mini, AirPods headphones, Magic Trackpad, double MagSafe charger and the like. This would literally force Apple to switch to USB-C for other products as well, probably much sooner than the company itself would see fit. In this regard, Kuo said that a transition to the already mentioned portless iPhone is probably more likely. In this direction, the MagSafe technology introduced last year may appear as an ideal solution. Even here, however, we encounter huge limits. Currently, MagSafe is only used for charging and cannot, for example, transfer data or take care of recovery or diagnostics.
It could be interest you
Flying around the world with Apple So we should expect the arrival of the iPhone 13, which will still be equipped with the ten-year-old Lightning connector. How do you view the whole situation? Would you welcome the arrival of a USB-C port on Apple phones, or are you satisfied with the current solution?
Well, we who understand what is the point of progress and faster data transfer and the like, just like USB-C certainly yes, but I'm afraid that 90% of people would be rather angry because they have an awful lot of LIGHTNING accessories at home. So today I rather believe that it will be a portless phone than that it will have USB-C, which, by the way, is qualitatively worse. It tilts and stuff like that. LIGHTNING is simply a better port and connector. but it would deserve some kind of generational renewal.
"faster data transfer" is a nice argument, but useless for 99% of users. I'm probably the only one in our family who connects and backs up iPhones before switching to a new mobile phone (and I do this to my parents, grandparents and siblings, they would handle it themselves via iCloud). And I probably don't even remember anyone from the neighborhood who would do something similar. So they would not be able to use the only advantage of USB-C and, on the contrary, they would lose mechanical resistance (here usb is simply worse than lightning). Moreover, back to reality – USB-C does not necessarily mean faster data transfer and other manufacturers prove it to us every day (after all, many phones have usb-c but only support usb 2.0)
It's a shame that they didn't take an example from this when designing usb-c and put the "breakable" beak on the cable rather than the device.
As a solution, I would see fast wireless charging and USB-C data (which would only be used occasionally), but this also has its pitfalls - you cannot charge and use the phone at the same time via QI - which somewhat obscures the new magsafe, but in that case it would they should have added a few more W of power. As a result, it would only end up using the usb and its mechanical vulnerability.
And honestly, I still don't see any reason to switch to another connector - I don't need faster data and I definitely have more lighting cables (and various adapters) around me than USB-C ones, and it probably won't be any better this year. In two to three years, let's say, the situation will be completely different, and the transition there will definitely be more advantageous. On the contrary, I'm surprised that so many laptop manufacturers still don't migrate power to USB or make it a premium feature.
To sum it up...it probably wouldn't do much for users (nowadays) and Apple would lose licensing money. So it's no wonder that he doesn't rush into it and that people don't really mind. Let's wait two years and the situation will be completely different.