{"id":17322,"date":"2017-03-06T16:49:52","date_gmt":"2017-03-06T21:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=17322"},"modified":"2019-01-15T17:02:12","modified_gmt":"2019-01-15T22:02:12","slug":"lightning-or-usb-c-on-the-new-iphones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/06\/lightning-or-usb-c-on-the-new-iphones\/","title":{"rendered":"Lightning or USB-C on the New iPhones?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Takashi Mochizuki<\/a>:<\/p>\n

People familiar with Apple’s plans said the iPhone releases this year would include two models with the traditional LCD and a third one with an OLED screen.<\/p>\n

They said Apple would introduce other updates including a USB-C port for the power cord and other peripheral devices, instead of the company’s original Lightning connector. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

John Gruber<\/a>:<\/p>\n

My expectation has been that iPhones will never<\/em> switch to USB-C — that Apple would stick with Lightning until they can do away with external ports entirely.<\/p>\n

I have no inside dope on this, but it rings false to my ears. If there’s any truth to it, I’d bet that this year’s iPhones will ship with USB-C chargers<\/em>, that use a USB-C to Lightning cable to connect to the phones. That<\/em> makes sense, given that Apple has dropped USB-A ports from the newest MacBook models.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Joe Rossignol<\/a> (via John Gruber<\/a>):<\/p>\n

All three iPhones rumored to be launched in 2017 will retain Lightning connectors with the addition of USB-C Power Delivery for faster charging, including an all-new OLED model with a larger L-shaped battery and updated 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch models, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

My initial expectations<\/a> matched Gruber’s. I didn’t think Apple would<\/em> drop Lightning. That said, I think there’s a pretty good case to be made that they should<\/em>. That would take some courage<\/a> because people don’t like change. But I don’t think it would be that hard of a sell. Lightning was the right choice when Apple adopted<\/a> it because it was better than the alternatives that existed at that time. But now we have USB-C, which is an emerging standard and offers many of the same benefits, plus some of its own—though also some confusion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Imagine that Lightning didn’t exist today. Would there be a compelling reason for Apple to invent it? USB-C looks like it will become a widespread standard. If Apple doesn’t switch, it had better have a good explanation for why it’s inconveniencing its customers with a proprietary connector.<\/p>\n

And if it’s going to switch, why not do it now? Why ship a few hundred million more devices with Lightning when you know USB-C is the future? It’s better to be a little early<\/a> than a little late on these transitions.<\/p>\n\n

Update (2017-03-09): See also: Accidental Tech Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Update (2019-01-15): Juli Clover<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Mac Otakara<\/em>’s report also suggests that the next-generation iPhone coming in 2019 could potentially include a USB-C port. According to “those who are working on it,” though, it has not reached a design reference step and whether or not the new iPhones will use USB-C over Lightning is not yet fully established.<\/p><\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Takashi Mochizuki: People familiar with Apple’s plans said the iPhone releases this year would include two models with the traditional LCD and a third one with an OLED screen. They said Apple would introduce other updates including a USB-C port for the power cord and other peripheral devices, instead of the company’s original Lightning connector. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2019-01-15T22:02:15Z","apple_news_api_id":"ee7a4f66-1dca-4923-8bf8-42ba727cd167","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2019-01-15T22:02:15Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A7npPZh3KSSOL-EK6cnzRZw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[31,85,88,1154],"class_list":["post-17322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-ios","tag-iphone","tag-lightning","tag-usb-c"],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17322"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23950,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17322\/revisions\/23950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}