There are multiple points of view. As for me, I'm fine with Lightning: mechanically it's the best connector I've ever seen. But moving "everything" to USB-C means that exactly ZERO of my USB devices are pluggable into the new laptops.
Also, please don't start with the "but somebody needs to move the world forward" narrative. Move the world all you want, but don't hold me hostage. And "moving the world forward" does not require dropping existing USB connectors.
I'm also amused by the "oh, in a year or so every device will have switched to USB-C" narrative. Guess what, it's quite likely that my JTAG programmers, logic analyzers, USB microscopes, USB ports on oscilloscopes, 3dconnexion spacemouse, label printer, sheet-fed scanner, barcode scanners, and at least 20 kinds of development boards will NOT switch to USB-C anytime soon, and most of them quite likely never will (ever tried routing a USB-C connector on a 2-layer board?). Oh, and I wrote that list just by looking around me, I probably have even more devices.
> Lightning: mechanically it's the best connector I've ever seen.
Sorry, that’s only true because you mostly see the male end of connectors. Lightning has multiple severe design problems:
- Cables that plug into things have moving parts. There are springy electrical contacts and springy mechanical bits that hold the connector in. These parts wear out. A good design puts all the moving parts on the cable’s end, which may be less attractive but means that, when they inevitably wear out, replacing the cable solves the problem. With Lightning, the parts that wear out are in the socket, where they’re out of sight but can’t be easily replaced.
- There’s something wrong with the electrical contact design. Even on the Apple store, all the male Lightning connectors that aren’t very, very new look a bit scorched on one of the center pins. I don’t know whether this is due to arcing when the connection is made or broken or due to insufficient contact area or pressure.
To add insult to injury, when the socket fails, Apple will not replace it. Either you get a third-party replacement or you replace the whole phone.
Sorry, but even disregarding compatibility, Lightning is attractive but is otherwise shitty.
> A good design puts all the moving parts on the cable’s end
Are there any of those? I think every cable I can think of or have owned in my life is the other way around with the moving parts in the box part not the cable. I guess there's more space for moving parts in the box bit.
It's true I had a lighting socket pack up and replaced - the repair shop said it was quite common.
Also I'm on an Anker lighting cable as the plastic Apple uses is rubbish, cracks, gets patched with sellotape, dies in the end. PowerLine II is good - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLiSwyknmks.
> Are there any of those? I think every cable I can think of or have owned in my life is the other way around with the moving parts in the box part not the cable. I guess there's more space for moving parts in the box bit.
USB Type C and Micro USB come to mind. On Micro USB, there are very visible springy clips on the outside of the plug. I'm not entirely sure what's going on with USB Type A, but I think the springy part of the contact is in the plug and the leaf spring that holds the plug in may be in the socket.
I'd have expected Lightning to remain but the other end of the cable should've either switched to USB-C or some sort of adapter been included in the box.
As things stand you could walk into an Apple Store, spend the better part of four thousand pounds on a MBP and an iPhone X, and get home to find out that you can't plug one into the other without Apple wanting to take another £35 for a USB-C to Lightning cable (obviously other cables are available but that's beside the point).
That's absolute madness and destroys the idea that Apple hardware exists within any sort of ecosystem.
I'm actually shocked that Apple doesn't offer an exchange program -- bring us your USB-A to Lightening cable and we'll switch it out for a USB-C cable.
> *I’d have expected Lightning to remain but the other end of the cable should've either switched to USB-C...”
Use the iPad Pro 29W USB-C charger (or Anker’s USB-C chargers, etc.) and Apple’s USB-C to Lightning “Power Delivery” (USB-C PD) cable, you can ultra fast charge iPhone X, iPads, etc., and yes, you can charge it from current Macs or other brand laptops with USB-C.
My point, I suppose, was that one of those cables should be in the box.
The charger's neither here nor there for the sake of my argument: as things stand, you can plug your phone into the charger and the connection between the two can be USB-A, USB-C or Jony Ive's finger for all it matters.
This was the most frustrating thing for me. I have a new touchbar mac and iphone x and when i realized i needed a usb-c to lighting cable and went to the apple store in downtown sf they didn't have any in the store. this was ~6 months after the iphone came out so it wasn't even an initial rush related issue. crazy.
Lightning might be great mechanically, but from a practical usage point of view it's a pain.
Wired headphone solutions are just nasty. It's gone from a position where I could use the same 3.5mm jack on basically any phone, laptop or PC, to a situation where I either go for lots of dongles, which is an extra expense and also tends not work perfectly or I buy multiple sets of headphones for different devices, which isn't great if you want moderately expensive ANC kit.
The idea that I can buy an Apple laptop, and Apple phone and then have to buy multiple additional dongles and cables to effectively connect the two is just bizarre.
Realistically it would be better if Apple standardised on USB-C for phone and had a mix of USB-A/USB-C on laptops for a period of time whilst peripherals catch up.
Even wireless headphones don't solve this problem. You still need to buy a seperate aptX low latency dongle. Obviously you can't expect every cheapass bluetooth headphone to come with aptX LL but on a $1000+ laptop or $800+ phone? Adding an aptX LL transceiver is the bare minimum you should do if you care even the tiniest bit about pushing wireless. Regular bluetooth is terrible. It's a tradeoff between convenience and quality, not an obvious incremental upgrade that you should always choose. It's strange that even in 2018 wireless still isn't better or equal than wired in every situation yet it's being forced down our throats through removal of universally compatible ports.
Also, please don't start with the "but somebody needs to move the world forward" narrative.
What that really means is "we want to keep selling you stuff and convince you that you really need it." In terms of progress I don't think we've been "moving forward" for many years now --- we're just churning around the same place.
It's extremely easy to wire up a USB-C connector to any legacy USB controller, at least by my reading of the relevant specs. https://imgur.com/a/tL5lDZ5 is what you need logically (I think).
As I wrote: "ever tried routing a USB-C connector on a 2-layer board?"
There is nothing "extremely easy" about USB-C. And even if it were easy, that doesn't solve the problem of connecting all my devices in various circumstances. I don't want to live in a dongle-cable world. They should have kept two USB ports for compatibility.
Also, please don't start with the "but somebody needs to move the world forward" narrative. Move the world all you want, but don't hold me hostage. And "moving the world forward" does not require dropping existing USB connectors.
I'm also amused by the "oh, in a year or so every device will have switched to USB-C" narrative. Guess what, it's quite likely that my JTAG programmers, logic analyzers, USB microscopes, USB ports on oscilloscopes, 3dconnexion spacemouse, label printer, sheet-fed scanner, barcode scanners, and at least 20 kinds of development boards will NOT switch to USB-C anytime soon, and most of them quite likely never will (ever tried routing a USB-C connector on a 2-layer board?). Oh, and I wrote that list just by looking around me, I probably have even more devices.