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Other Poll: USB-C or Lightning?
- Thread starter czaffa
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As a form factor, lightning is more compact and easier to maintain than USB-C. There's no protruding connector inside the female port, unlike USB-C (that makes it hard to clean/dry).
Having said that, since more and more of my gadgets are USB-C, and the fact that Macs and iPads are moving to USB-C, it would be nice to have a coherent ecosystem by having the iPhone using the same port.
Imo Apple would never do it since the money from the mfi licenses are too juicy to just let go. We would see a portless iPhone before Apple put USB-C on iPhone.
Having said that, since more and more of my gadgets are USB-C, and the fact that Macs and iPads are moving to USB-C, it would be nice to have a coherent ecosystem by having the iPhone using the same port.
Imo Apple would never do it since the money from the mfi licenses are too juicy to just let go. We would see a portless iPhone before Apple put USB-C on iPhone.
Well, we are now at the point where lightning is only on the cheapest iPad and iPhones. The rest of iPads and Macs are USB-C. Even people only in Apple ecosystem will be annoyed with the two charging cables sooner or later (eg iPad with USB-C and iPhone with lightning). By a year or two, having USB-C would actually be more convenient, even within the ecosystem.
As for chargers, USB-PD GaN chargers are getting more and more common. I would just get one that have 2 or more USB-C ports instead of Apple's single port chargers.
Silence, peasants. An EXPERT speaks!
tbh, I don't think the physical form factor of the port even matters. If they wanted to keep Lightning, I wouldn't care, but for the love of GOD, make it 40Gb/s or faster.
Lightning is a superior port physically, but it needs updating in terms of speed.
Until we get an portless ihpone or apple decides to use USB-C or some other thing happen, has you seen those magnetic swappable tip cables? I'm trying to avoid magsafe for now to preserve battery healthy and I'm looking to buying one of those, so I can let a USB-C tip plugged on the ipad, a micro-USB on kindle, and a lightning in iphone and just use the same cable.
Yeah, it's truly negligable. I have a little bag I bring with me that has a lightning cable, a USB-C for my MacBook, and a nasty little micro USB cable since I still own a couple things which are otherwise working great but which still charge that way. All that adds up to a very tiny bit of weight and bulk. It's definitely well within the "who gives a crap" realm.
I guess in theory it would be cool to have everything USB-C, but I already own a couple things besides my phone (AirPods Max, Magic Keyboard) that I definitely wouldn't re-buy just for the tiny convenience of USB-C charging.
How often are you really doing this, though? Even back when I was syncing up my iPhone/iPod with iTunes a lot, on the few occasions when there was a lot to sync, I'd just set it up for when I was busy doing something else for an hour and come back. Besides, at this point I'd argue that the vast, vast majority of people are just streaming all their music.
There are legit reasons to prefer each. However, this \/ is the biggest problem.
As Apple product fans, many of us are familiar with being forced to progress err adopt new standards — and it’s a pain. Anyone dive in on an original iMac purchase? Besides RJ-45 and RJ-11 for com ports, USB was the only game in town. So, yep, buy a new printer or an expensive serial to USB adapter, purchase a new disk drive (or again another adapter), and so on. Ultimately, it was a move for the better, though far from an experience most look forward to.
Unless you’re a person willing to “upgrade" everything at once, the one cable for convenience argument is moot. I still have gadgets (e.g., battery packs, headphones, and earphones) that charge via micro USB — items I don’t feel need to be replaced yet.
As Apple product fans, many of us are familiar with being forced to progress err adopt new standards — and it’s a pain. Anyone dive in on an original iMac purchase? Besides RJ-45 and RJ-11 for com ports, USB was the only game in town. So, yep, buy a new printer or an expensive serial to USB adapter, purchase a new disk drive (or again another adapter), and so on. Ultimately, it was a move for the better, though far from an experience most look forward to.
Honestly a tough decision for me. I have so many lightning chargers that transitioning over to USB-C kinda sucks. I just recently got a 2021 iPad Pro, and it sucks not having my iPad and iPhone using the same charger anymore. It was so nice to be able to just carry around one charger and have chargers and multiple place that could charge either device.
It’d be nice to have the iPhone switch over to USB-C to match my iPad, have faster data transfer speeds, and have a more universal and cheaper port, but it’d also suck to have like 5 different lightning chargers gone to waste and have to buy a bunch of new USB-C ones.
Also, I prefer slow charging my iPhone for longevity with the old 5W USB-A to lightning charger, and it seems like for any USB-C plug, it’s always fast charging and there are no slow charging options.
It’d be nice to have the iPhone switch over to USB-C to match my iPad, have faster data transfer speeds, and have a more universal and cheaper port, but it’d also suck to have like 5 different lightning chargers gone to waste and have to buy a bunch of new USB-C ones.
Also, I prefer slow charging my iPhone for longevity with the old 5W USB-A to lightning charger, and it seems like for any USB-C plug, it’s always fast charging and there are no slow charging options.
You could do USB-C to USB-A (5W charger). Anyway, indeed, that’s still highlighting the true problem, not every manufacturer is going to adopt USB-C for every use. Therefore, it will never be possible to simply have a single super high capacity charger and one or two USB-C to USB-C cables for all of your gizmos, gadgets, whatnot.
I add music weekly. I also backup to my imac cos icloud doesnt have enough storage and i have no interest in subscribing. the fact of the matter is the tech is old and taking much much longer than it needs to in this day and age.
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As an iPhone repairer, Lightning is definitely the more robust of the two. The dicky little tab for the USBC will certainly break at some stage. I rarely have to replace the Lightning port and so many older phones still have operating Lightning ports.
That's my one reservation about USB-C. The Lightning port is pretty simple and more sturdy without that little tab in the middle just waiting to be broken off. Even USB-A is sturdier than that.
Coming from Android I’ve never had issues with usb c. My biggest beef with lightning is it doesn’t match the laptops. Seems silly given the focus on user experience.