this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
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Eh, I don't know Apple's intentions but this specific design change isn't that complicated. The lightning port still uses the USB protocol so the firmware will be the same or very similar. The supporting electronics also wouldn't change much, but at most they'd omit/add a few small passives and slightly reroute that part of the circuit to make things fit together. They'd also have to lock down a large production run of USB ports, but any manufacturer would accommodate a customer as large as Apple. They'd need to test fit it with the new phone chassis but that's relatively simple as well. Regulatory certification would also be smooth sailing for a change this simple, since most of what's changing is simply the form factor.
I figure it would take two years before customers would see this design change from the moment engineering was assigned it.
I'm an electrical engineer who works in production if that matters.
Could they?
Yeah probably. USB-C connectors are ubiquitous, I'm certain they could acquire the necessary components in short notice if they had to. From my understanding they essentially did just swap the connector and kept the same USB2.0 controller.
Did they?
I doubt it, they had plenty of notice this was coming and were likely already preparing for it.
I wouldn't be surprised if the second USB-C iPhone release gets a modern controller with USB 3.2 or even 4, and Apple talks it up like they have single-handedly made USB-C fast all by theirselves (and imply that other mobile devices haven't had the same for far longer)
Why are you getting downvoted 🤔 I’m pretty sure apple would have kept lighting on the "cheap" phones until the complete removal of any port (I assume they kill the port on the "cheap" phone in the next 5 years) and give the pro thunderbolt like they did this year. I’m thinking this, because I bet not even 1% of "cheap" iPhone users uses the port for data transfer (keep in mind that 1% of "cheap" iPhone users are still plenty talking in absolute numbers)
Just because Apple forced their users to switch everything to wireless, doesn't mean cables are obsolete.
More users would use cable if it was actually decently implemented, like with many Android manufacturers.
Because cable has many advantages over wireless, like having transfer speeds more than 10 times faster.