Apple Still Sells These Devices With Lightning After Discontinuing iPad 9

[crsh1976]

I still use a rare and vintage Apple device that has neither Lightning nor USB-C (MPB mid 2012).

I found my old iPod from 2005 in a drawer the other day, but I don't have a cable for it anymore - those old 30-pin connectors.

Apple still sells a USB-A to 30 pin cable (https://www.apple.com/us/shop/product/MA591G/C/apple-30-pin-to-usb-cable), fortunately!

 

[mrat93]

Your lightning cables won't work with Vision Pro. You'd be dumb to carry one with you for that purpose. Really dumb!

You'll need a USB-C charging cable for Vision Pro.

You need a lightning cable to charge the only supported “mouse” which is the Magic Trackpad. Sorry, that’s what I meant.

 

[gumbyhw]

I'm disappointed that Apple was strong-armed to shift to USB-C. Lightning was a superior connector IMO and I wish Apple had open-sourced it so that it could have been the standard. It potentially had all the benefits of USB-C, but with a smaller and stronger connector.

Apple wasn't strongarmed -- they were a core member of the USB C project and their experience with lightning was pretty important to USB C design. USB C has a lot of advantages over lightning for this reason (e.g. much higher speeds, the cable designed so that the shell fails first, not the connector in your device or the lightning tab, and so on). Can't say more -- USB consortium is aggressively NDAd.

Also the 30 pin connector lasted 11 years ('03 to '14); lightning is already a dozen years old (introduced in 2012).

 

[cateye]

Also, EarPods (Lightning Connector)

EarPods (Lightning Connector)

EarPods with Lightning Connector let you answer calls and adjust volume and playback of music and video. Buy now with fast, free shipping.

www.apple.com

Even better, Apple sells three different versions of those old EarPods: Traditional headphone barrel jack, Lightning, and USB-C. Take your pick.

 

[gumbyhw]

I found my old iPod from 2005 in a drawer the other day, but I don't have a cable for it anymore - those old 30-pin connectors.

Apple still sells a USB-A to 30 pin cable (https://www.apple.com/us/shop/product/MA591G/C/apple-30-pin-to-usb-cable), fortunately!

I still have an original thunderbolt original ipod I bought for my wife the week they came out. Haven't powered it up in a loooong time of course.

 

[cateye]

thunderbolt original ipod

Firewire, not thunderbolt.

 

[gumbyhw]

Even better, Apple sells three different versions of those old EarPods: Traditional headphone barrel jack, Lightning, and USB-C. Take your pick.

I was glad to have a type C that works in phone, ipad and computer. Sometimes my airpods go flat when I have a bunch of long calls.

 

[gumbyhw]

Firewire, not thunderbolt.

Thanks. I don't know if the ipod still works but seems like my memory is failing!

 

[cateye]

Thanks. I don't know if the ipod still works but seems like my memory is failing!

haha. I have one of those too, and amazingly it does still work, although that's probably because I cracked it open and replaced the original battery a few years back. Still, given its age, I'm surprised even the replacement battery still holds a charge.

 

[sos47]

there are still micro usb devices one can buy. far more inferior than lightning.

 

[bigjnyc]

That's what I thought when iMac was refreshed with M2.

While Apple's at it, I would also love to see:

• Magic Keyboard: backlit keys
• Magic Trackpad: haptic feedback when scrolling and dragging (just like the new Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro)
• Magic Mouse: Larger form factor, haptic feedback when scrolling and dragging, USB-C port on the top side

Apple doesn't do larger lol... If anything the mouse will be smaller and you'll have to pinch it with your index finger and thumb to drag it around.

 

[arkhanjel]

Slow news day? I hate to break it to you but lightning cables are going to be around for a long while even after Apple stops selling lightning devices. Most people aren't going to go and buy new products just for the port change and most would rather replace cables as needed to keep a device they like as long as they can.

 

[mrat93]

Slow news day? I hate to break it to you but lightning cables are going to be around for a long while even after Apple stops selling lightning devices. Most people aren't going to go and buy new products just for the port change and most would rather replace cables as needed to keep a device they like as long as they can.

I don’t think people care which cable other people use. They just want to carry one less cable. It’s not that deep. Nobody is calling for lightning to be eradicated from the earth.

And for what it’s worth, I upgraded from 14 to 15 specifically because of USB-C, and 13-to-14 was for the always-on display.

So my last two upgrades were for long-overdue features which Android had for years.

 

[Paddle1]

If the rumors about the next SE are true the entire iPhone lineup will be USB-C faster than you'd think too - I'd say by spring 2025. In September the iPhone 13 and (probably) 14 Plus will be discontinued, leaving only the SE and 14 with lightning. Then in the spring a new SE based on the 14 debuts and Apple discontinues the current SE and the 14.

I think the issue with that could be that the 2025 SE may not be able to satisfy both price points. Either the 2022 SE or the 14 would have to stay for a bit like the iPad 9 did.

 

[tomtad]

It’s a scandal that the primary input method, the mouse, is still sold only with a lightning connector.

 

[Skoua]

At this point, the device Apple could release which would hype me the most is a new version of the Magic Mouse. Been using it daily for 10 years+ now.
And no, I don't care if I have to not use it for a few minutes in order to charge it every 2 months.

 

[bookcase]

I'll have lightning cables for a long time: keyboard, mouse, and Apple TV remotes. Those are all home-based charging, so not a big deal. But going forward, I'll only buy USB-C devices (except the watch), especially for travel -- this is why I'm passing on the AirPods Max until a refresh. I finally rid my house of micro-USB.

 

[LawJolla]

honestly the fact they're lightning has given me the strength I needed not to buy the black ones. i expect that strength runs out by the end of the year - maybe even after WWDC as they tend to introduce with the latest pro/studio models.

You know it's funny.. I've been in the same position waiting for the USB-C change. And my track pad just lost its haptic click!

So now I have to buy a black lightning trackpad, which means your USB-C trackpad will come out next month. You're welcome. 🤣

 

[StanleyOmar]

My iPhone 14 Pro, now only a generation behind the current one, still uses lighting, as do my Airpods Pros, my Max, a handful of other accessories, and all of the other older Apple devices I own that still function. I get that it would be convenient if every device out there shared a charging cable, but people act like lighting cables are some kind of rare, hard to source commodity that nobody in the Apple world has just laying around somewhere, or that we could all throw them in the garbage were it not for just one device we need to charge.

Honestly, the only real inconvenience I've had regularly with lightning has been on planes where the only charging options is USB-A.

 

[bodonnell202]

I think the issue with that could be that the 2025 SE may not be able to satisfy both price points. Either the 2022 SE or the 14 would have to stay for a bit like the iPad 9 did.

Yeah, I was just going by when the SE 1 was introduced and the 5S was discontinued and the SE 2 was introduced and the 8 was discontinued. I can't see Apple selling an SE based on the 14 for $429, but if they can hit a $499 price point (cheaper camera, cheaper modem and maybe cheaper OLED panel compared to the 14?) I can see them discontinuing the both the 2022 SE and the 14.

 

[minik]

I just created a quote for two 64GB iPad (9th generation) for the client. Hey it works with Lightning and other cases.

 

[CWallace]

SURELY Apple will upgrade these this autumn...hopefully with a way to finally charge the mouse while using it??

I think if Apple was planning to swap from Lightning to USB-C for the Magic Keyboard, Mouse and Trackpad they would have done so when the M3 iMac was released.

As noted up-thread, Apple does not have to move them from Lightning until they choose to or unless they make a significant enough hardware change to trigger the EU USB-C rule.

 

[JapanApple]

every item will be phased into use-c with time. So, who cares?

 

[NetMage]

The magic accessories continuing to use lightning -- especially when they should have always been USB -- is just brutal.

It would have been impressive for Apple to use USB-C before it was designed.

And you would have to be stupid to think micro USB is better than Lightning.

 

[theluggage]

It would have been impressive for Apple to use USB-C before it was designed.

USB-C connector designed by Intel and Apple(!): 2012
USB-C spec released: August 11 2014
12" MacBook (with USB-C) released: April 10th 2015.
Magic Trackpad 2, Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse 2 released: October 13 2015.
Magic Keyboard with Touch ID - released alongside the USB-C-only iMac in 2021
MacBook Pros with TB3/USB-C released: October 2016

So not only was USB-C available when the current Magic accessories launched, Apple had already released one USB-C Mac and a bunch of adapters with USB-C, were involved in the development of USB-C a couple of years before, and were almost certainly already planning moving the entire MacBook range over to USB-C/TB3.

Now, OK, the use of lightning on these accessories doesn't keep me awake at night (they come with the required cable, and it's only the Magic Trackpad I've got any respect for anyhow) - but it is perplexing why these accessories ever had Lightning when Apple was already rolling out USB-C to the Mac.

I think if Apple was planning to swap from Lightning to USB-C for the Magic Keyboard, Mouse and Trackpad they would have done so when the M3 iMac was released.

I suspect - elaborate conspiracy theories notwithstanding - it's just a case that none of these are big money spinners, and punters only buy them if they've already decided to buy a Mac, so Apple won't lay out one penny more than they have to on updating them. Things like needing a Lightning cable (which is included anyway) and not being able to charge the mouse in use aren't dealbreakers, they just fall under "could do better" from a company that once made a $300 coffee table book about what wonderful designers they were.