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Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

bbc.com

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Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#31

Post by Retric »

SamReidHughes wrote: post #23
Retric wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Frankly phones are all limited by the USB connection on the other side of the cable. The industry can easily standardize on something, update that standard every ~5 years and be fine. Mini USB (2000) Micro USB (2009) both predate the Lightning cable and could charge and communicate with phones at the same time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_hardware#Connector_types

But Mini and Micro USB both royally sucked. That's why they invented the lightning connector.

My point was Apple had been developing a connector at the same time. They could have worked with the USB working group and improved the standard rather than adding yet another cable type.

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#32

Post by jyounker »

unlinked_dll wrote: post #10

Don't most folks speculate they're going to abandon it within the next generation or two? I don't want government telling me what ports I can use in my design to be frank. I get there are issues out there, but this is something that the invisible hand of the market has done a good job of culling. Remember how it used to be with every device having a wack connector? Nowadays you can count on pretty much anything being…

My understanding is that this process was driven largely by pressure from the EU: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_external_power_supply

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#33

Post by gkfasdfasdf »

delecti wrote: post #11

I mean, it's good to reduce disposable cables, but it's not like Apple is egregious about this. The Lightning port has been in use longer than the time between the release of USB and Mini-USB, Mini-USB and Micro-USB, Micro-USB and USB-C, or USB-C to today. The 30-pin connector was current for 9 years, even longer than Lightning has been around.

Lightning cables are by far the most fragile. Either they get frayed, tarnished, or just plain stop working.

Edit: it's not just me, a simple Google search turns up the following: [0]. Apple phone/tablet hardware is great but the cables they ship are unfortunately not very good.

[0]: https://www.cnet.com/news/these-are-the-lowest-rated-product...

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#35

Post by SamReidHughes »

Retric wrote: post #31
SamReidHughes wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But Mini and Micro USB both royally sucked. That's why they invented the lightning connector.

My point was Apple had been developing a connector at the same time. They could have worked with the USB working group and improved the standard rather than adding yet another cable type.

Yes, that's what the USB working group needed. A larger committee, with a new entrant telling them they're all wrong, dragging them through the gravel until they submit.

Better to crush them in the market.

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#36

Post by LyndsySimon »

orf wrote: post #28

iPad Pro already has a USB-C connector, clearly Apple are already in the process of doing this

I picked up a pair of AirPods Pro a bit ago, and was surprised to see a Lightning connector. Not only that, but the included cable was USB-C to Lightning.

I don’t know why they bothered at all, honestly.

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#38

Post by Turing_Machine »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #13
unlinked_dll wrote: post #10

Don't most folks speculate they're going to abandon it within the next generation or two? I don't want government telling me what ports I can use in my design to be frank. I get there are issues out there, but this is something that the invisible hand of the market has done a good job of culling. Remember how it used to be with every device having a wack connector? Nowadays you can count on pretty much anything being…

The EU seems to be making an environmental argument, which seems credible?

Not really. As someone pointed out above, cables wear out fast. It's not like you're going to save the planet by buying one cable that will last the rest of your life. Most people go through several cables over the lifespan of a device anyway.

What it does sound like a good way to get stuck with an obsolete and substandard cable format forever, because once the One True Cable Design is mandated by government fiat, changing it to something else is going to be hell.

Re: Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

#40

Post by gerdesj »

DEADBEEFC0FFEE wrote: post #14

While I'm fraustrated with the connector diversity in my home, I'm not at all keen to have technology design mandated. Would this forbid a certain type of product from using something better, and force new design to be via committees? I mean, it's not like Europe uses all the same mains power plugs. Well, I guess UK leaving will help there.

I have lived with both the UK and the "Euro" "standardish" 2 pin with earth on the outside plug for my formative years. I'm a UK army brat.

I'll take the UK plug any day. It is bigger by far in two unimportant dimensions but thinner by far in the important one. The chord runs downwards on all UK plugs not at 90 degrees to the wall by default but I will accept that many Euro plugs also run downwards.

A UK plug is a big old beast which means it is easy to wire and it does not wobble and is very safe to insert and remove. The long earth prong of the UK plug makes it easy to insert even when blind/blinded.

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