Does USB Type C Herald the End of Apple's Proprietary Connectors?

An anonymous reader writes The Verge has an interesting editorial about the USB Type C connector on the new Macbook, and what this might mean for Apple's Lightning and Thunderbolt connectors. The former is functionally identical to USB Type C, and the latter has yet to prove popular in the external media and "docking" applications for which it was originally intended. Will Apple phase out these ports in favour of a single, widely-accepted, but novel standard? Or do we face a dystopian future where Apple sells cords with USB Type C on one end, and Lightning on the other?

Comments

Could be.

[Qbertino]

Since Steve Jobs came back Apple has only introduced proprietary connectors when there was a really good reason for them to do so. Lightning was introduced because Micro USB was considered sub-par by Apple. And let's face it: There is some truth to that. Lightning is sturdier, easyer to handle, has more data throughput and IIRC more relyable electrical specs. Say about Apple what you want, but unlike quite a few other tech companies they actually know what they are doing and why and they don't short-change hardware design decisions. Their market evaluation seems to prove them right.

In a nutshell: If Apple decides that USB C is worthwhile and offers upsides vis-a-vis lightning, it could be that this actually is the case, and Lightning actually is on the way out.

As for Thunderbolt: Unlike what quite a few tech experts think, it is *not* an Apple specific spec, but a standardised port. It's only that Apple likes to use it more than any other vendor.

Re:Could be.

[clickety6]

"[My english is better than most other people's german, so please point out mistakes politely. Thank you.]"

With the greatest of respect, I would like to point out that the word "English" in your sig should be capitalised, as should the word "German", both being derived from proper nouns. Have a great day!

In contrast to DockPort

[DrYak]

Still, you can contrast with DockPort, which is a *VESA* standard.

Like Thunderbolt, it does enable an additional flux of data for peripherals and docks, but unlike ThunderBolt, it uses USB3.0 instead of PCIe for the peripherals.
(Also meaning that it will be more easy to use with portable devices, which tend to already have USB support built-in, but not necessarily a PCIe bus).

Also DockPort introduce high power availability for charging portable devices (again an advantage for portable device).

Now with TFA's anouncement, that means that even further does the two grow closer.
You can imagin USB-C to DisplayPort cable for portable devices using this (just like MHL standart enabled using micro-USB to HDMI cables).
Except that it also delivers power to charge the device (and doesn't rely on a 3rd different protocol like MHL).

Re:In contrast to DockPort

[Anonymous Coward]

For some reason, your post implies you think Thunderbolt does not supply power to its devices. This is simply not true.

Even if the specification did not provide power in and of itself, its use of the PCI-E bus does require it to provide power over its lanes. In fact, one of the advantages of Thunderbolt when it first came out was providing twice as much power as the fastest USB at the time. Thunderbolt 2 provide at least double that amount of power when it was released.

Thunderbolt is not a standard like Dockport, which requires you to use a display port to USB adapter to access USB devices, as it was never inteded for strictly that purpose. Thunderbolt was created to bypass the need for the USB middle man, and provide direct access to the PCI-E bus for devices that could benefit from it, such as arrays of disks, analog video feeds, and other prosumer/business logic.

A big thing USB 3.1 is touting is the ability to tie two SSDs together in a RAID 0 configuration and not max out its bandwidth. But it will at three SSDs. Thunderbolt could already handle 3 of these in its first spec, and can handle more in the 2.0 version. Not to mention 3.0 which is still in the works.

That is what Thunderbolt is intended for.

Re:Thunderbolt

[BitZtream]

I have 2 generic servers in my closet that use Thunderbolt to talk to big ass arrays of disks. Nothing Apple related about them.

And USB 3 does not do everything I use Thunderbolt for on my Mac, including ferry USB3 over the same wire as video. I come home (or go to the office) and plug in my laptop with single cable and instantly my displays, USB3 devices, audio and networking all work ... without eating a ridiculous amount of CPU power as required by USB.

Dear god, do not drop Thunderbolt support based on the silly musings of a bunch of people buying the cheapest crap hardware they can possibly buy and then being pissy they don't have the same functionality. Fortunately Apple doesn't generally listen to a bunch of whiners on slashdot.

Re:Depends where's the money

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not just (or directly) about the money. Patents on the chip in Lightning connectors allow Apple control over the ecosystem of products that can connect to the iPhone/iPad devices.

If there is one thing that Jobs and Ive have demonstrated they care about even more than upfront cash, it is intellectual control over what users can do with the products they deliver.

USB C still inherently fragile

[caseih]

USB C still has that ridiculous plastic tab inside the female port that can break quite easily if you trip on the cable. Plus in a pocket it can fill with lint and prevent the cable from seating securely.
Thankfully USB C is reversible (finally!) but compared to the proprietary Apple connector, it still is inferior in my opinion.

Re:USB C still inherently fragile

[Anonymous Coward]

USB is far superior the connector you're championing because of:
1) the springs for the contacts are on the cable, not the device. Take a close look at the cable or the phone (depending on what you're looking at) - you'll notice one side is flat and the other slightly rounded -- because the contacts needs to guarantee uh... contact. Because the "moving part" - the part more likely to break - is on the cable, you don't have to replace or repair a $400-1200 smartphone should one of the springs warp or break.

I had my phone in my pocket while plugged into a USB2.0 cable charging it with an external battery pack in my backpack. I forgot I was doing this for a moment, and swung my backpack around. The USB "hood" ripped out of the cable and was sticking out of the socket. I now have a microusb cable that has it's wires exposed and a pointless metal hood. The phone's USB port is working perfectly fine without any problems.

I'm not sure what kind of anecdotal evidence you have that "breaks quite easily"... the two metal shells (the cable and the port) lock and prevent any movement with regard to the plastic tab. You're more likely to rip the socket out of the device then breaking the plastic tab..

2) the contacts are protected by a metal shell. What kind of idiot puts the contacts on the exterior of a cable?!? If you accidentally get some water on it and plug it in, the water will spread all over the contact(s) inside the connector! Because it's exposed to the elements, it WILL corrode faster! The USB shell is just for ground, so it doesn't need to have good contact.

With USB3-C, it removes - and beats - the reversible connector disadvantage USB had, since both ends are the same and both ends can flip.

Re:USB C still inherently fragile

[ckatko]

>USB C still has that ridiculous plastic tab inside the female port that can break quite easily if you trip on the cable.

Yeah, and last night my external hard drive fell two feet into my "bundle of cables" behind my computer. It apparently fell into the HDMI cable and bent the cable where it attaches to the metal part, and broke it. A 35-ft cable ruined by a single falling object.

So what point are you trying to get at exactly?

Re:Hmmm

[dgatwood]

Try an $80 adapter... just to get HDMI. This new laptop makes no sense. I can't think of anybody I know who doesn't use HDMI with their laptops, even if it is just as a way of piping Netflix to a hotel TV while traveling. And I can't think of anybody who doesn't use a USB port, even if it is just for charging an iPhone. So pretty much 100% of laptop users will have to own this enormously overpriced, clumsy adapter and carry it around with them at all times, just so they could make that computer slightly thinner.

Worse, most users polled would rather Apple make laptops thicker to give us better battery life, because the real-world battery life is a third what Apple claims unless you do nothing more complex than running Word and a web browser. A whole day running Xcode or Photoshop? Yeah, right. Making them even thinner and taking away ports that nearly everybody uses is exactly the opposite of what users are asking for.

Who did they design this for again? Apple managers?

Re:Hmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

They designed this for the people who don't use laptops heavily and are blown away by thin/light.... in other words, most people. Putting a $150-200 Core M CPU in a $1500 laptop is just incredible... this laptop has tablet guts. And the amazing thing is that people will buy them and many that don't will lust for them.

Re:Thunderbolt

[jythie]

I kinda fear that like fiberchannel it will get relegated to expensive hardware since the number of people who really benefit from it is fairly small, while USB has enough mass appeal to appear in pretty much everything. There is a rather nasty catch-22 in there though since there are all sorts of nifty things thunderbolt could be doing if it was common enough for marketers to cater to, but the market will remain small unless there are lots of devices for doing neat things.

Even something like Apple putting out a cheap external expansion bay might help there since that opens up a whole host of 3rd party hardware right there.

Not Just apple.

[Lumpy]

Dell, HP,Lenovo, ASUS all are the worst for "special secret" connectors for power. In fact they are WORSE than apple as they change the damn connector from model to model. At least magsave has stayed somewhat the same for large chunks of time.

I really hope the EU adopts USB-C and forces the laptop makers all to use it for the power connection. It's utterly stupid that we have been forced to have random power plugs on laptops.