I came across this Android Central article over the weekend, a discussion about USB-C charging:
Unless you have a Moto Z series phone, none of the cheap adapters you see for sale offer a headphone jack and charging port. None of them. They all may not work with every Moto Z model, either. My advice is to just stay away from them.
This is because of parts of the USB-C specification that are optional. Motorola offers these options, but phones like the Pixel 2 and almost all others do not. It may be possible to define some fancy logic that allows this to happen, but you won’t get it for $12 on eBay or Amazon.
A few weeks ago, a rumor surfaced that Apple would replace the iPhone Lightning port with USB-C. Color me extremely skeptical.
The Lightning spec is consistent and the hardware is reliable (for the most part).
On the USB-C side, things are a bit of a mess. From this take by Android Authority:
Even the seemingly most basic function of USB Type-C — powering devices — has become a mess of compatibility issues, conflicting proprietary standards, and a general lack of consumer information to guide purchasing decisions. The problem is that the features supported by different devices aren’t clear, yet the defining principle of the USB Type-C standard makes consumers think everything should just work.
We’ve seen this issue on the MacBook, though staying with Apple specified adapters works fine. But iPhone adapters are much more of a commodity. Who doesn’t own a 3rd party Lightning cable or adapter for their iPhone? With Lightning, you know it’s iPhone compatible and the bad cables/frauds are sussed out pretty easily.
If Apple replaced Lightning with USB-C on the iPhone, they’d have to ensure that the USB-C standard issues would not become Apple customer support issues.
“The Lightning spec is consistent and the hardware is reliable (for the most part).” That linked article seems bogus from the get go. The description of the Genius saying, “Pin on the edge, then slide. See?” sounds totally phony. And then it happens with another phone? What’s that guy doing? Anyone else have these issues?
The funniest part of USB-C to me is that USB 3.0 was turned into “USB 3.1 Gen A.” Why? Who knows. There’s a Gen 2 that supports a theoretical 10Gbps. Good luck finding a cable labeled Gen 2 that actually does.
Here’s imo how it should have gone:
USB 3.0 stays the damn way it is
USB-C is USB 3.0 and 3.1 ONLY
I know the idea is that C is just a form factor so it can support USB 2 for devices that just charge. But that was short sighted and penny wise, pound foolish. They allowed device manufacturers to make USB 2-only cables to save money and ended up killing the format because it’s so damn messy.
As the commenters pointed out, I also have trouble charging about every six months and will clean the pocket lint out of the lighting port to make the phone charge again.
USB-C has become a total mess. Whatever the intention (road to hell anyone?) there were reasons ports in the past had different shapes, as it was very easy to identify the function. This new one port for all functionality that USB-C is (Thunderbolt, power, audio, Data, etc.), only some of which are available in any given USB-C port and/or cable, is driving everyone crazy. That was definitely not the intention.
As for Apple and Lightning, what exactly is the advantage to Apple to moving the iPhone line to the larger, yes, quite a bit larger, USB-C standard? They already have a well established, well designed solution in place that’s incredibly ubiquitous, and I don’t see Apple changing it. I think they’ll get rid of the port entirely before they change the port again.
I can’t recall seeing any USB cable with a label indicating its spec.
The real problem with USB C has been the confusion between the connector (used for multiple protocols) and the protocol (USB). It used to be the connector type signaled the user about the function of the port, and about the capabilities of the cable. Now everything is up for grabs. It’s a user interface disaster.
This will not be a problem for Apple. Apple will choose one of the many methods available for USB-c and then all other manufacturers will use Apple’s method to be compatible with the numerous iPhone accessories. Then the other USB-c methods will become obsolete. You will not need to worry about this.
I would point out the Digitimes report states support for the USB-C interface. That does not mean a USB-C port. Lightning supports multiple interfaces, including HDMI and SD card, through adapters, not ports. A Lighting to USB-C cable and a hardware upgrade to support USB-C power and data rate would support the interface.
Apple is going straight to wireless from Lightning. No stopping at USB-C.
I think that what could happen is Apple changing to a newer, smaller USB-C based port, in the same way that we had miniUSB and then microUSB on Android phones a decade ago
This would solve 1) USB-C being a bit bigger than Lightning 2) USB Forum considered to implement a authentication chip on USB-C cables, but that would just make the standard even messier. With a newer standard, it could be the requirement from the start.
While a newer standard to solve a mess of “too may standard” may sound xkcd 927, that kind of happened before with miniUSB and microUSB.
No one today remembers we had that “smaller but still not tiny USB” on phone.
“If Apple replaced Lightning with USB-C on the iPhone, they’d have to
ensure that the USB-C standard issues would not become Apple customer
support issues.”
“Use an Apple or MFI-certified charger for best results”.
Wireless only?
I don’t see them pulling the data port anytime soon, even if they decide (foolishly) that inductive charging suffices.
Yeah, because the thing everyone wants in a Universal Serial Bus port is “not backward compatible at all”, right?
(No mice, no keyboards, no printers, few flash drives …
Basically only some hubs and video adapters and mass-storage devices do USB3.
We all want a USB port we can’t plug normal USB peripherals into, even with an adapter, right?)
For Macs, sure. For iPhones, why not? 802.11ac can do 1.3Gbps, and in the future 802.11ax should be able to do 10 Gbps. Devices ought to be able to get pretty close to that using a secondary and dedicated adhoc, low-power and short-range network.
For my money, the big loss is the charging port. You can use an iPhone while it’s plugged in charging. Maybe Apple can fix using while charging with a snap-on charger? I don’t know. I hope they have some plans. The data port doesn’t matter so much. It’s not a question of when wireless speed catches up to wired speed, it’s when wireless speed is fast enough that the difference doesn’t matter.
It’s quite easy to avoid problems. Use quality USB-C cables certified to carry data and power. Anker and OWC are really good about making quality cables. I only buy Apple Lightning cables and dongles when required. I don’t bother with their USB-C cables because many of them don’t do power transport. And that is simply wrong. Especially for the price they charge. For less than half of one 6 foot cable I can get three Anker cables that are physically more rugged, and work correctly.
If Apple were to switch to USB-C for their phones, I don’ think I would switch to Apple cables for that reason.
Yeah, USB-C is really great. Except when it’s different. Good luck to consumers trying to keep track.
I think what Apple would do (and should have done a few years ago already) is USB-C on one end and lightning on the other, assuming they don’t completely switch to wireless charging soon. I work in an office with all new MacBooks and company-issued iPhones and it’s pretty ridiculous that you can’t use your MacBook (or even the Apple-recommended LG monitors we have too, which are also purely USB-C) to charge your phone.
Apple’s whole thing has always been that they own the software and hardware experience and can deliver something more wholistic/integrated than other companies, but their products have become completely fragmented and incompatible with each other.
What USB 3 cables have you used that weren’t backwards compatible and where in my comment did I say that they shouldn’t be backwards compatible
USB-C cables and charging are a complete mess. Apple dropped the ball on the MacBook using USB-C for video and charging.
Well that was the idea. USB 3 had the blue plugs and the Superspeed labels, and USB 3 ports even maximized the throughput of a USB 2 cable. It was simple. USB 3.1 and USB-C has ruined the simplicity. You now have to look very carefully if you want the fastest USB speeds.
why?
My mistake for not naming USB-C specifically.
But… Look at what? Where are the distinguishing USB-C identifiers that can differentiate this miracle spec?