Can other Companies use Apple Lightning Ports?

[SMATForce]

Hey everyone, I was just wondering if other companies were allowed to use USB Lightning adapters in their products, the same port and cable that Apple uses for their products.

I would suspect that since Apple has a patent on the technology, a 3rd party company would have to pay royalties for each product sold;

or the company would need to pay something like an annual licensing fee.

But I've never seen such a product before.

So, does Apple not allow others to use their design (at all)?

Or is the cost of paying Apple for each use way too much?

Thanks!

[kirashi]

5 minutes ago, SMATForce said:

Hey everyone, I was just wondering if other companies were allowed to use USB Lightning adapters in their products, the same port and cable that Apple uses for their products.

I would suspect that since Apple has a patent on the technology, a 3rd party company would have to pay royalties for each product sold;

or the company would need to pay something like an annual licensing fee.

But I've never seen such a product before.

So, does Apple not allow others to use their design (at all)?

Or is the cost of paying Apple for each use way too much?

Thanks!

Technically, they could, but I believe Apple only licenses the lightning port for accessories to use. IDK why anyone would want to use lightning though when we have USB-C, as lightning is only USB2.0 capable, and USB-C can carry a fully Thunderbolt 3 signal with up to 95w of power delivery and much faster transfer speeds, plus it's royalty free for companies that join the non-profit USB consortium.

[PlayStation 2]

14 minutes ago, kirashi said:

Technically, they could, but I believe Apple only licenses the lightning port for accessories to use. IDK why anyone would want to use lightning though when we have USB-C, as lightning is only USB2.0 capable, and USB-C can carry a fully Thunderbolt 3 signal with up to 95w of power delivery and much faster transfer speeds, plus it's royalty free for companies that join the non-profit USB consortium.

I thought Lightning could actually support USB 3.0 but only made use of 2.0 on most of Apple's devices.

[kirashi]

Just now, Dan Castellaneta said:

I thought Lightning could actually support USB 3.0 but only made use of 2.0 on most of Apple's devices.

In theory it should support it, yes, however it looks like Apple just doesn't give a shit about actually supporting the latest Lightning to USB 3 adapter as outlined in the blog article below. Don't get me wrong - although I no longer own an iPad, I would love to see more functionality for working professionals to better utilize their iPad for photography and videography work, or at least faster wired file transfers from the iPad to your computer when you've finished creating a video project.

http://www.macnn.com/articles/16/04/19/yes.its.for.cameras.no.it.isnt.yes.it.is.133598/

[PlayStation 2]

Just now, kirashi said:

In theory it should support it, yes, however it looks like Apple just doesn't give a shit about actually supporting the latest Lightning to USB 3 adapter as outlined in the blog article below. Don't get me wrong - although I no longer own an iPad, I would love to see more functionality for working professionals to better utilize their iPad for photography and videography work, or at least faster wired file transfers from the iPad to your computer when you've finished creating a video project.

http://www.macnn.com/articles/16/04/19/yes.its.for.cameras.no.it.isnt.yes.it.is.133598/

Alright, I thought I remembered right.

Yeah, I do find it strange that Apple's never bothered with USB 3.0 on Lightning; I don't think it would've added much expense.

[aom]

On 8/2/2018 at 9:50 PM, Pangea2017 said:

usb 3.0 can cause interference with 2.4 ghz wifi since the usb 3.0 clock speed is 2.5 ghz.

that should not be an issue if every other manufacturer has figured it out. But its Apple - gotta think different.

[Guest]

Yes they can. They just have to pay a licensing fee. That’s why off brand chargers exist though newer versions of iOS recognize off brand chargers and refuse to work with them.