Apple forced to ditch iPhone lightning charger::Apple confirms new iPhone 15 will have a common USB-C charging port after EU forces it into the change.
Apple forced to ditch iPhone lightning charger::Apple confirms new iPhone 15 will have a common USB-C charging port after EU forces it into the change.
If it’s all about pumping up Lightning, why did the iPad leave it?
I have to assume the revenue around Lightning falls into the “ Wearables, Home and Accessories” bucket on their earnings report. This whole category makes up about 10% of total sales. This includes Apple Watch, HomePod, AppleTV, AirPods, phone cases, etc. Lightning is a rounding error. The iPhone on its own makes up almost 50% of their sales. They aren’t going to shoot themselves in the foot with their cash cow to save some accessory revenue. That makes no sense.
Because Lightning is too slow and low-power for the functionality they felt necessary for the iPad.
You can’t do real video output over USB2.0, charging current is limited, and you can’t effectively use it for data and charging at the same time outside of limited configurations.
Your mistake is overlooking the fact that Lightning is woefully outdated.
iPhones have been able to get away with it this long by doing most everything wirelessly and convincing users like you that it’s somehow better to have a slower, less powerful connector on their phone.
They couldn’t get away with the same limitations on a tablet.
To be clear, I don’t think moving to USB-C is a bad thing. I think governments getting involved to dictate timelines is a bad thing, and I think it was going to happen anyway due to Lightning getting old and the needs we have now, as you outlined with the iPad.
The only reason the EU got involved was because Apple didn’t want to regulate themselves into being non-anti-consumer.
Regulations are only necessary when a market is unable to regulate itself.
They made a cable that was better than others that existed 10 years ago, said they would use it for a decade, and used it for a decade. They did exactly what they said they were going to do.