EarPods With USB-C Said to Be in Mass Production Ahead of iPhone 15 Launch

[szw-mapple fan]

With USB-C it's usually the plug that wears out, not the port. The springy part that "clicks" is in the plug.

So while it might not be as durable overall, you might just have to replace charging cables more often. Not a big cost when the big benefit is compatibility with pretty much every other product out there for charging.

My experience has been the opposite. I have never broken a cable connector, but I have had several devices with broken/non-operational ports that needed device repairs. On the other hand, I've had good luck with lightning ports but not so much with the cables.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

Good News. Looking forward to my Apple devices (Macbook Pro, iPhone, Airpods Pro) all having the same connector.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

I don’t think enough people will be doing that for it to be a priority.

Yes, not many people will use it, but having a slow port defeats the point of having ProRes on the phone. 1 minute of ProRes footage is roughly 2-6GB depending on the resolution. These "pro" features add to the cost of the phone that buyers are paying for. If Apple can't provide a serviceable way to get the footage off the phone they really shouldn't have it as a feature.

 

[seek3r]

I wonder if they'll update the keyboards and mice or just keep shipping literally only those accessories with lightning

 

[TVreporter]

They'll probably make the port and the phone jacks as brittle as possible for EU customers.

 

[JippaLippa]

Yup. Can't wait for all the busted ports. USB-C is nowhere near as robust or sturdy a physical port. This standard might be great for small electronics that don't see a lot of "in-n-out" action on the port but I don't think this was well thought out when it comes to phones. Had to have mine replaced on my 2017 MBP but never once had a problem with a lightning port.

It's a bad situation no matter how you look at it.
On one side, yeah; innovation is potentially stifled.
On the other side, It was about time lightning was abandoned...having a pro iphone with usb-2 transfer speeds made no sense...

 

[icanhazmac]

It's a bad situation no matter how you look at it.
On one side, yeah; innovation is potentially stifled.
On the other side, It was about time lightning was abandoned...having a pro iphone with usb-2 transfer speeds made no sense...

On the topic of transfer speeds, I agree, but I do wonder what percentage of iPhone users wire up for transfers?

Even if Apple had increased the transfer speed on Lightning I doubt it would have had any impact on the EU mandates. The EU clearly wanted "one port to rule them all".

 

[Hyperchaotic]

It's so sad that EU government tyranny led to this. Apple has no freedom to innovate anymore.

Well, there's a whole phone on top of that connector, there must be a bit of freedom possible.

 

[dampfnudel]

On the topic of transfer speeds, I agree, but I do wonder what percentage of iPhone users wire up for transfers?

Even if Apple had increased the transfer speed on Lightning I doubt it would have had any impact on the EU mandates.

I think it’s small as most users know it’s a slow process, especially with videos. I guess ultimately Apple will go port-less as they’ve been pushing wireless for many years which might explain why they kept wired lightning speeds slow. Wireless works well for me so no problem there.

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

Innovation means to lead in technology. EU is just telling Apple to get up to date. Apple is completely free to innovate anytime it wants. Apple just choses not to.

I get what you're getting at with this.

But the EU is neither stifling all of Apple's tireless efforts to innovate the Lightning port(/s), like someone else said. Nor is the EU forcing Apple to "get up to date" like you claim.

-Unfortunately, Apple can keep the exact same outdated USB 2.0 speeds for data and the exact same charging speeds as it has burdened iPhone owners with for a decade while still complying with the regulations.

Cables and ports just have to be USB-C, that's all there is to it.

With this in mind, I'd expect Apple to make contemporary USB-C data transfer and charging speeds a "Pro" feature reserved for iPhones Pro.

SE and mid-tier iPhones will also get USB-C but only with the outdated Lightning specs.

 

[Chriss_m]

This company is completely all over the place. They have no direction.

 

[atonaldenim]

AirPods are a totally unnecessary tsunami of e-waste due to their small non-replaceable batteries that mean they MUST be thrown out after only a few years once the battery life is depleted.

Wired headphones can last forever in theory.

My personal solution is a very small carrying case with 3.5mm wired EarPods, plus a lightning adapter for my iPhone, and a USB-C adapter for my iPad. That kit works with every device I have and will never need to be thrown away. And any time I inevitably lose one of the pieces, none of them costs more than $20 to replace. (And whoever finds the lost piece can use it themselves!)

For those complaining about the shape of EarPods / regular AirPods, they fit my ears perfectly and do not fall out. They are much more comfortable to me than the silicone tip style that press against your ear canal. But everyone's ears are different and some people have the opposite experience. It's good to have a choice, maybe Apple should make an EarPods Pro...

 

[danakin]

Stop cheering for authoritarianism, it’s not healthy.

Also in case you forgot Apple is an AMERICAN company. Here in America we do things differently: Imperial units of measurement, degrees in Fahrenheit, 12-hour time. We don’t have to think about global standards; we set our own. And even though the rest of the world seethes they can’t help but burn with envy. ❤️

And yet Canada is still cooler (literally and figuratively) than the US.

just my $0.02

 

[darngooddesign]

I don’t think there’s really a need for faster speeds on the iPhone. I can’t imagine there’s many people moving content on or off the device via cable vs wirelessly.

Video recordings get large in a hurry, as do the Raw files recent iPhones can take.

But that's not the point I was making.

 

[tranceking26]

I honestly thought EarPods were a thing of the past.

As far as I can remember I never had any problems with them though, and the quality was really good.

 

[JoshNori]

Pointless. Let other manufacturers develop these instead of introducing a second round of eWaste. Take all of your garbage Lightning products back while you’re at it.

 

[firewood]

Why wired still, when most iPhone owners use bluetooth now?

For pro-audio or ham radio use, wired earbuds have lower latency (and no compression artifacts even if those are inaudible to most people).

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

Why wired still, when most iPhone owners use bluetooth now?

Please note this is just a preference question, to establish current thoughts.

I use both wired and bluetooth.

My teenage son bought himself AirPods, and lost them within a month. Repeated the same process again. Now has sworn off them, and gone back to wired.

As a parent, removing the jack, is one of my biggest reasons to want to kick Tim "Scrooge" McCook right where it hurts.

There's actually quite a long list of reasons, but this is my biggest parental reason.

 

[svish]

Glad to hear that USB C is finally coming to iPhone this year. Apple will be able to sell many EarPods with USB C

 

[chickenpiccata]

Yup. Can't wait for all the busted ports. USB-C is nowhere near as robust or sturdy a physical port. This standard might be great for small electronics that don't see a lot of "in-n-out" action on the port but I don't think this was well thought out when it comes to phones. Had to have mine replaced on my 2017 MBP but never once had a problem with a lightning port.

Your experience is better than mine. A few years ago the lightning port on my iPad went bad literally three weeks after the end of warranty. I did not have AppleCare. Apple said tough, not repairable, buy another. I did, but I have not forgotten that bad port.

 

[MacMcNugget]

New usb c magic accessories down the line too?

I hope Apple have done enough R&D since 2015 to figure out a way to charge AND use the Magic Mouse at the some time

Maybe some sort of proprietary wireless charging mat, that costs three times more than the mouse itself?

I certainly can’t think of ANY other way that it could be done (without just plugging the cable into the FRONT of the mouse, like almost every other rechargeable wireless mouse)

 

[Mihailo88]

If you search on Amazon or anywhere, 99% of earbuds use silicone tips, so Apple should be providing what most people clearly want by default. It's fine if you want something different, but for the vast majority of people these things are useless garbage.

When people buy these for their iphone, they probably don't need to buy a 3rd party version of these as they know these will work seamlessly with their iphone and they are cheap. If apple also made ones with silicone tips, lots of people will probably also buy those, but like you said there are already plenty of 3rd party options for those, I gather. Plenty people are buying these from apple.

 

[dumastudetto]

AirPods Pro 2 is the sweet solution.

 

[Mihailo88]

USB c feels so cheap in comparison to lightning.

No satisfying click on the 20v wall charging brick…

What 20W wall brick? My 30W apple charging brick is USB C and has a satisfying click, just like the other end of the cable that plugs into my 14 Gen iphone with a lightning connector.

 

[Mihailo88]

I held out for a long time but now even really cheap $15 wireless ones are better then the wired ones Ive had. The wired ones never lasted more than a year.

Wireless does have the advantage of not dealing with wires that break with excessive wear, just as wired has the advantage of not loosing earbuds as they are connected with a wire.