Hacker News Reader

Comment by sbaildon | Hacker News Reader

There's barely a lightning ecosystem left now—the only remaining products are the entry-level iPad, AirPods {,Pro, Max}, and the computer peripherals.

View on HN

AirPods using lightning is one of the more obnoxious Apple decisions in the last 5 years or so. Even long after the iPhone has moved on to USB-C or no port at all, your AirPods Max will still force you to charge with Lightning.

I guess it's a good thing that everybody's AirPods and AirPods Pro are going to be dead in a couple of years, so if they update them to use USB-C they won't hang around too long. Thanks, poor battery longevity!

Apple took a lot of grief for retiring the 30 pin connector and USB-C didn't yet exist when they did so. At the time I recall Apple saying they would support Lightning for 10 years. That was 9 years ago. It makes sense that the AirPods would use the same connector as the iPhone - imagine the mess that would be if they didn't! Anyway, since next year is the 10 year anniversary of switching to Lightning I suspect that's when they're going to transition all the iDevices (except Watch) to USB-C.

iDevices won’t go USB-C, they’ll go straight to all wireless. No point in having just one or two years of iPhone on USB-C before they go wireless.

You're probably right. I know I don't use the wire to charge my phone any longer. Also eliminates a port which should improve the device's water resistance.

The lightning ecosystem is that a huge percentage of people in the united states expect their phones, and their friends' phones, to charge over lightning. This is a convenience for them. I'm not really defending it, since usb-C would be much easier for me, but I can understand why the transition would be painful for a lot of average users.

I also remember the huge uproar when Apple switched from the 30-pin connector to the lightning connector.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com