Apple dropping lightning for a USB-C port is a smart idea
Apple likes to rip the band-aid off cleanly. No half measures, just a sharp and briefly painful leap to the next thing.
That’s how it was with the dearly departed 3.5 mm headphone jack on the iPhone 7 and that’s probably how it will be for the iPhone’s lightning port, which, if the rumors are true, will soon be replaced with a single USB-C port on the eagerly anticipated iPhone 8 (or X).
I know this concerns iPhone fans:
Apple is moving too fast.
Now I need even more dongles.
Curse you, Apple!
I, on the other hand, think it’s a brilliant idea, and not just because I predicted it.
USB-C is in most ways a better technology than Apple’s Lightning port.
SEE ALSO: Apple will ditch iPhone's Lightning connector for USB-C: report
It's a standard.
It can transmit data more quickly. USB-C is rated for up to 10 gigabits per second data transfer. Apple’s current iPhone 7 lightning port may have transfer speeds up to 480 megabits per second. (Apple does not currently make this information public, but that is the rated speed for a lightning port, which is basically USB 3.0.) Not bad, but when faster is just a port swap away …
USB-C can charge faster, supporting up to 100 watts. If Apple puts a USB-C port on the iPhone 8, it might also finally swap out its 5 watt chargers for something beefier. More watts will mean much faster charging.
Dragged into a new ecosystem
Leaving aside the technology improvements, there’s another reason to make the change: Switching to USB-C will bring the iPhone in line with at least some of Apple’s other, newer products.
The Cupertino hardware giant now has two USB-C-only MacBook lines, the eponymous ultralight MacBook and its series of MacBook Pros, including the nifty Touch Bar edition.
People have been whining for months about these system’s lack of standard USB ports and even the MagSafe power adapters — and Apple sort of responded by reducing pricing on USB-C adapters — but the brouhaha has pretty much died down as people have, well, adapted.
Not that I didn’t understand the frustration.
I’ve used the MacBook and MacBook Pro on the road and have on a couple of occasions smacked my head when I realized that I could not connect either the iPhone 6 or 7 Plus I often carry to either laptop. It’s not something I need to do often, so, no surprise, I keep forgetting to bring the requisite dongle.
Maybe now I won’t have to worry. A USB-C-only iPhone is essentially a gift to those who’ve made the new MacBook leap. The frustration they occasionally feel will be replaced by a certain smug satisfaction, “See, this is where I thought Apple was going all along.”
Everybody is doing it
Even if Apple isn’t going in this direction right away, it must know it’s already swimming against the current in a mobile handset industry that’s fully embraced USB-C.
At the recently completed Mobile World Congress technology conference in Barcelona, Spain, virtually all the major mobile announcements featured handsets and/or tablets with USB-C posts (a few of the new handsets still offer separate 3.5 mm audio jacks).
I noted the LG G6, Huawei P10, Sony Xperia XZ, and BlackBerry KEY One all had the same, perfectly centered USB-C port. Even the rumored Samsung Galaxy S8 (a no show at the event) is expected to carry the new port.
This port is the future.
Why would Apple hold onto Lightning when the entire industry is embracing USB-C?
Profits.
The one reason Apple might wait a little longer (or altogether) to make the switch is that they charge third-party iPhone accessory manufacturers lighting port technology licensing fees. You know someone is paying when you see the “Made for iPhone” logo on the packaging. I have no idea how much Apple makes on these fees, but considering all the iPhone accessories on the market, I bet it’s not pocket change.
Creative Strategies President and longtime Apple analyst Tim Bajarin said the idea of Apple switching ports on the iPhone 8 is plausible, though he worries it might be too soon. Still, “I have no doubt they will eventually unify all connectors around USB-C. It’s just a matter of time,” he told me via email.
Apple’s penchant for making the leap (as it did with the 3.5 mm jack, the 30-pin port and the switch from PowerPC to Intel years earlier), makes me think that it will throw caution to the wind. 2017 will be the year both the iPhone and iPad lines adopt USB-C and we wave a hasty goodbye to lighting.
And that’s fine with me.
