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Comment by exabrial | Hacker News Reader

You know what'd be better than a new GPU? USB-C with full speed USB 3.2/3.1 and Thunderbolt 3.

Why? Most people don't care about this and only use the port for charging.

Most people care about having cables that actually work and don't cost a ton to replace

And they’ve had that continuously since the iPhone came out so that’s a distraction from the real reason the EU acted: incompatibility. Lightning is a better connector but it’s not enough so to be worth so many people having cables which only work with one family of devices, especially since it’s not even Apple’s own laptops.

I found lightning worse than USB-C. So far none of my USB-C cables broke, however I already broke one lighting cable and my current one is only charging from one side. I sometimes plug it in with the wrong side up, and it doesn’t charge my phone. Then I have to plug it out, turn it by 180 degrees and plug it in again.

Anyway, these issues could be user issues or bad luck (so please don’t comment on this), but I have one nitpick which isn’t:

USB 2.0 speeds for pro-res footage are a joke. Why even praise your camera and the pro resolution format being introduced on iphone, when I can’t get it off my PC via cable vat decent speeds? I only used it once to make for a side project, and had ~30min of footage. Took about 1.5h to copy.

Lightning does not mandate USB 2.0 speed - there have been lightning ports on iPad Pro models which were capable of 3.0.

Likewise, USB-C ports on a spec-compliant device do not indicate greater than USB 2.0 speeds (e.g. high speed), nor do cables with USB-C ports on both ends indicate greater than high speed.

In fact, there are plenty of devices with USB-C ports which do not support data channels at all (but these tend to have compatibility issues due to not being able to negotiate power delivery)

It’s actually a hassle having to keep two types of cables around.

Interestingly, USB-C is one of the reasons my wife and I switched away from Android.

Don't get me wrong, USB-C is ideal for charging. However, it _always_ became extremely fickle with Android Auto. The connector would develop wiggle overtime, resulting in an unstable connection. You'd have to work voodoo to get it positions correctly - which would often result in even more strain and deterioration. My most recent phone became completely unusable with Android Auto after about 6 months.

I have a box at work with, quite literally, probably 50+ different manufacturer's 'USB C' standard cables. Some will work with certain docks. Some won't, but will work with Phone A and Monitor C, both of which use the exact same level of speed. Cost isn't a good signal. It's a complete cluster.

My Pixel 2 USB-C still works fine despite my partner constantly sitting on the damn thing when plugged in. Of course my Pixel 5 is also in fine shaped but that one is much younger(2 years) so we will see how it ages. Why not use Android auto wirelessly? If you car doesn't support it then get a Motorola wireless adapter.

This will probably happen thanks to the EU.

USB Full Speed is like 12 Mbps and been supported since the 1998 iMac.

3.2/3.1 aren't speeds, they are USB spec numbers. Those specs don't mandate the speeds you think they do.

I have never once connected my phone to my computer, with a cable, besides for charging. What am I missing out on? I have a large iCloud storage plan, so maybe that’s related?

If you take 4k HDR video the files are huge and take ages to get off the phone via USB 2.0. Same with lots of 48 MP HDR photos.

It’s easier to let the phone upload them to iCloud and then download from there, but that shouldn’t be necessary (and requires a good internet connection).

I don’t think it’s a problem for normal people’s workflows, more if you’re trying to use them for professional video/camera things.

I think your average person, familiar with Apple products, would use air drop. There’s no sanity in bouncing off of iCloud. That’ll be many times slower than USB, for most asymmetric internet connections.

USB 3 will be a couple times faster than WiFi 6, used between modern apple devices, so I see how that would be beneficial, for people editing.

Some people don't use a mac so airdrop is not an option.

With Gigabit internet iCloud can be faster than USB 2.0

There are many apps that allow transferring files over WiFi, including to a windows computer. It never makes sense to bounce things off of iCloud, if time matters. You can’t start the receive until the upload is complete, and if you have Wi-Fi 6, gigabit internet would still be a bottleneck.

> There are many apps that allow transferring files over WiFi, including to a windows computer.

And they're a lot more awkward then using a cable.

They also might not even have a speed advantage over USB 2.0 if the router is in a different room.

Network tethering, scrcpy, and dead-simple very fast file transfers are three things I miss from Android. I think KDE Connect is faster wired too (eg to use your phone as a USB keyboard or mouse.)

You don’t need a cable for network tethering or file transfers on iPhones.

You don’t _need_ to, but it’s better and more reliable.

the phone also charges while tethered which is a plus

Even on Android I’ve never had a good time with file transfers. MTP is just such a flaky protocol.

Android Auto/Apple CarPlay are the only things I ever connect for data transfer.

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