Apple may lock down the USB-C port that is rumored to replace Lightning ports on the iPhone 15 family
I hate proprietary ports like the iPhone’s Lightning. It adds cost and limits capabilities. The next iPhone 15 will likely finally ditch Apple’s proprietary port in favor of a USB-C design. That doesn’t mean it won’t stay locked down to Apple. I want to get excited about an iPhone 15 with USB-C, but I’m worried that Apple is going to leverage the switch to make money, and it may limit the new port’s capabilities anyway.
Lightning was cool before USB-C. When Lightning was introduced to the iPhone and Apple lineup, mini-USB and micro-USB ports dominated phones. These older USB port designs were terrible. If you plugged your cord in upside-down, an easy mistake on micro-USB, you could cause serious damage. I saw the carnage first hand from relatives who destroyed old Galaxy phones.
Along comes Apple Lightning in 2012. It isn’t any faster or more capable than USB 2.0, it just looks different. It fits perfectly, no matter which way you hold it. It’s easy to fit in the dark. It’s tiny, so it works with small devices like an iPod shuffle or a pair of earbuds.
We originally believed Apple was adding Lightning and removing the headphone port to make devices that were even smaller than the 3.5mm audio outlet allowed. We were fooled. Apple devices never got much thinner than the competition. In retrospect, it all seems like a money grab. We didn’t get thinner devices, we just got to buy all new stuff to go with our stuff.
A true Apple Lightning cable or accessory has something a generic USB cable does not. It has a microcontroller called an ‘integrated circuit’ that lets your iPhone or iPad verify that the accessory is certified by Apple. Theoretically, this means you won’t get low-quality junk devices that work improperly.
In practice, though, is this really a problem? I’ve purchased dozens of USB cables and accessories for my laptop, my Samsung Galaxy tablet, and my Android smartphones. I have keyboards, mice, memory card readers, dongle hubs, and adapters to work with Ethernet, HDMI, and even older Thunderbolt devices.
Nothing I own has ever caused a problem. Some of it works better than others. My Belkin hub works better than my Samsung, but you can’t tell me it’s because Samsung is an unreliable vendor. It’s a fluke of manufacturing or design, I’d guess. No need to lock down my phone against sub-par accessories.
