Very much agree. The port design of lightning is superior, too bad that now a law mandates Apple to sell the inferior solution. But that’s what you get when laws eliminate competition.
While Lightning may be a good piece of technology, I think Apple is largely to blame for its demise. Standardization is good for consumers. Apple had control over its fate. I don’t blame them for wanting to collect royalties, but they were the only major manufacturer on the market not playing ball with a standardized port. Yet even their other products use USB-C, and the MacBook was actually an early adopter.
Accordingly, I don’t think this law eliminates competition. It brings simplification to consumers for a simple, boring port that can now be shared with many of their other goods and a single cable.
This is unnecessarily snide.
Why? Your computers and one of your tablets already have USB-C chargers, so you could just use those for your phones. Further, USB-A to USB-C cables exist, so you could reuse your existing USB-A bricks, too.
I don't see USB-A going anywhere in the next decade or so, especially now that they're popping up in wall outlets and power strips alongside traditional wall plugs (at least here in the US; YMMV elsewhere). Hell, I was at a casino last weekend and pretty much every slot machine has a USB-A port specifically for charging phones (unfortunately, the casino's gift shop was sold out of USB-C and Lightning, but had lots of micro-B on hand - go figure lol).
Probably for longer than USB-A male connectors exist, knowing how fast things usually evolve in said industries :)
I genuinely believe that there’s only one real reason Apple resisted moving away from Lightning:
They saw the writing on the wall from the EU over the last few years, and - remembering the way people lost their minds over the switch from 40-pin to Lightning (“it’s a money grab! they want me to replace all of my accessories!”) - chose to wait so they’d have someone to deflect blame to.
Licensing revenue from Lightning MFi is a drop in the bucket. I’m not a manufacturing operations expert, but I have to imagine that the simplification of supply chains alone will nearly offset that loss over time.
Lightning ports have springs that wear out inside. They have issues with arcing, which damages the plug (look at a charging cable that has been in use for a bunch of cycles. One pin on each side will be burnt.).
But hey, the plug part is pretty, so it must be better
Never before have I dealt with such a poor connector. All my usb c is working fine. All my lightning cables work about half the time, need to be jostled. I know if I buy all new ones AGAIN it will sort out the problem.
I don’t understand this take and replies.
Also, lightning doesn’t power external devices. Love that I can run a midi keyboard off my new iPad. The same on my iPhone requires a powered usb hub.
I mean, it's stupid that if I buy an Iphone and an Macbook today, there is no cable in either box that can connect those two