Why Apple's Implementation of Lightning and USB Type C Will Further Divide Mobile Tech

[ProdigyzMined]

Here's a point I haven't seen made yet regarding Apple's newest products: The creation of standards that aren't even standard within their own ecosystem. Apple's decision to include only USB type C connectors on all of their newest laptops has been controversial all on its own, as many accessories do not use the newer standard for connectivity. Thankfully, this can be solved relatively easily, even if costly, by using adapters. Fine.

 

This does, however, present a much more significant problem: Apple is dividing the infrastructure that everyone loves so dearly. Not necessarily on the software level, but on a physical one. The 'standard' connector is completely different on Apple's laptops and their phones. You now need a specialized cable, or an adapter, to connect your phone to your laptop, assuming you own an iPhone and either the Macbook Retina or one of the new Macbook Pro's. Have an iPhone 7? the dilemma worsens, as you won't be able to use your new lightning headphones with your laptop (instead, in an ironic twist, you'll need to use your older 3.5mm headphones that Apple decided were too obsolete to support on their phones, but are still supported on their newest laptops.)

 

Apple claimed that with the removal of the 3.5mm jack on the newest iPhone models, a newer connection type would allow for better features and, eventually, would become standard. (this is fine, it's the same thing they did when FireWire was phased out in favor of the newer USB type A standard.) But then the launch of the new laptop models takes a complete 180 on this idea, lacking the lightning connector that was the new standard.

 

This gets even more ridiculous when you think about newer USB type C Android devices that lack a headphone jack (presumably, this will be happening over the next year or so.) We've all gotten used to having to carry different cables to charge our phones, finding either another Android or iOS user to borrow a charger that our phone supported. This is about to become true with headphones as well. Companies are going to need to develop headphones for BOTH standards, or will only develop for one standard and leave everyone using the other standard stranded with one fewer headphone option.

 

The iPhone 7s/8 NEEDS to ditch lightning in favor of USB type C if their claim of wanting to simplify connectors holds any truth. Otherwise, You'll need cables specific to device (like we know today) along with buying headphones that support your product, which includes the inability to share headphones with someone using the opposite variety of phone.

 

TL;DR: Apple's decision to remove the headphone jack on the iPhone 7/7 plus while keeping the lightning connector along with the decision to keep the headphone jack yet lack a lightning connector on their newest laptops means that 'new standards' aren't even standard from product to product within Apple's own ecosystem.

[Mooshi]

I don't see Apple dividing much of anything, honestly.  Sacrifice functionality for dongles? I'll just simply not use your product and stuck to custom PCs. Samsung joins trend with no 3.5 jack? I have other options. 

 

Yelling at Apple doesn't solve anything. Smart consumers will simply use someone else's product that better suites their need. What Apple does has zero impact on my computer,  smartphone and audio solutions. If anything, it opens the doors to more companies to attract any fanbase that was lost. 

 

When your product becomes a messy dongle fest with sacrificed portability, you royally cocked up as a company. 

[Wolther]

I like it. Fck having a million cords for every single siffferent thing. Just give me one connector (USB c) 

[Rotterdams]

1 hour ago, Mooshi said:

I don't see Apple dividing much of anything, honestly.  Sacrifice functionality for dongles? I'll just simply not use your product and stuck to custom PCs. Samsung joins trend with no 3.5 jack? I have other options. 

 

Yelling at Apple doesn't solve anything. Smart consumers will simply use someone else's product that better suites their need. What Apple does has zero impact on my computer,  smartphone and audio solutions. If anything, it opens the doors to more companies to attract any fanbase that was lost. 

 

When your product becomes a messy dongle fest with sacrificed portability, you royally cocked up as a company. 

I just dont understand how people can be so old school.

 

Why does everyone want the freaking audio jack? Why do you want them cables?

 

I prefer a thin laptop with just 1 port which can be used for everything. And for audio use bluetooth because we are in 2017.

 

I just dont want to live in a time period where we still have vga,dvi,hdmi, display ports,audio jack, LAN port... etc etc on a laptop.

 

Not: I am not saying Apple products are the best. But this is what we want in the future. The best way is to force people into it. If it wasnt for Apple we would still use freaking audio jack and all the damn ports on a laptop for the next 10-20 years.

[Spork829]

WAIT, so you're telling me that Apple is fearlessly making dumb decisions because they know people will buy a potato with an Apple sticker on it for $100 anyways, and the industry is going to follow suit? Well that sure is new and different, never seen anything like it.

/s

 

 

In all seriousness though, I hope this pushes more and more people away from their closed-off ecosystem.

[Spork829]

1 hour ago, Wolther said:

I like it. Fck having a million cords for every single siffferent thing. Just give me one connector (USB c) 

But the point is that they're not even doing that right, because the phones still use lightning! 

[ProdigyzMined]

20 minutes ago, Rotterdams said:

I just dont understand how people can be so old school.

 

Why does everyone want the freaking audio jack? Why do you want them cables?

 

I prefer a thin laptop with just 1 port which can be used for everything. And for audio use bluetooth because we are in 2017.

 

I just dont want to live in a time period where we still have vga,dvi,hdmi, display ports,audio jack, LAN port... etc etc on a laptop.

 

Not: I am not saying Apple products are the best. But this is what we want in the future. The best way is to force people into it. If it wasnt for Apple we would still use freaking audio jack and all the damn ports on a laptop for the next 10-20 years.

I agree, believe me. The intent of this post was not to defend the various connector types.

 

If you read it, you'll understand what I mean: The future is standardized connectors for everything, but Apple's big push for a standard connector is ridiculous, as they're simultaneously pushing two standards: Lightning for mobile and USB C for laptops.

 

Kill off the standard audio jack, fine, but don't do it in a way that isn't universal like the 3.5mm jack was.

[ProdigyzMined]

1 hour ago, Mooshi said:

I don't see Apple dividing much of anything, honestly.  Sacrifice functionality for dongles? I'll just simply not use your product and stuck to custom PCs. Samsung joins trend with no 3.5 jack? I have other options. 

 

Yelling at Apple doesn't solve anything. Smart consumers will simply use someone else's product that better suites their need. What Apple does has zero impact on my computer,  smartphone and audio solutions. If anything, it opens the doors to more companies to attract any fanbase that was lost. 

 

When your product becomes a messy dongle fest with sacrificed portability, you royally cocked up as a company. 

In a perfect world, yes, you're completely correct. This isn't that world, however.

 

There are lots of people who will by something with an Apple logo regardless of price, functionality, etc. for the average person, they simply won't care.

 

However, for the industry as a whole, dividing things between multiple standards is counter-intuitive. It's the same kind of hell that already exists between micro USB/USB C and Lightning, but now extended to another level of stupid.