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New iPhones To Stick With Lightning Over USB-C, Include Slow-Charging 5W USB-A Charger In Box (9to5mac.com)
For those hoping the next iPhone would ditch the Lightning port in favor of the more versatile USB-C port, you'll surely be disappointed by the latest rumor. "Japanese site Macotakara says that not only will the 2019 iPhone use Lightning, Apple will also continue to bundle the same 5W charger and USB-A to Lightning cable in the box," reports 9to5Mac. "This is seen as a cost saving measure. It seems that customers wanting faster iPhone charge times will still have to buy accessories, like the 12W iPad charger." From the report: The site explains that Lightning port is not going anywhere and Apple is resistant to changing the included accessories to maintain production costs. Apple can benefit from huge economies of scale by selling the same accessories for many generation. As such, Apple apparently will keep bundling Lightning EarPods, Lightning to USB-A cable, and the 5W USB power adaptor, with the 2019 iPhone lineup. This is disappointing as Apple began shipping an 18W USB-C charger with its iPad Pro line last fall, and many expected that accessory to become an iPhone standard too. Even if the iPhone keeps the Lightning port, Lightning can support fast-charging over the USB Type-C protocol. It's not clear if the cost savings of this decision would be passed on to consumers with lower cost 2019 iPhone pricing.
...you have to buy iFranklin. Just connect it to the Lightning port, beam the rod towards the sky and wait for the next thunderstorm to full charge your iPhone.
Considering I have a total of ... zero Lightning cables and accessories, but a ton of standard USB-C?
Who cares? You’re not a customer.
They removed the audio port to make it waterproof.
I can't imagine why they wouldn't want to switch to Android.
Why would anyone want OS updates for 5 years and no Google watching your every move?
Samsung has an audio port, it's kinda waterproof (down to about 5 feet). Apple removed the audio port as a marketing gimmick to sell their wireless earbuds. They hardly lost any customers over it, so they consider it a hit. Apple defines the value of propaganda.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Yeah, a "cost-saving" measure on a device selling for upwards of $1000 and with a huge profit margin. Sold by one of the richest corporations in the world.
"Profit-saving" measure is the proper word here.
As you said however, gullible Apple fans deserve it. "There's a sucker born every minute" - and at least every 5 minutes it's an Apple fanboy.
... Apple truly understands.
Who cares? You're not a customer.
No, he's a potential new customer, which actually makes him more valuable. He's someone who, in large numbers, would change the market-share of the product. Getting people off competitors' products and onto yours is a higher priority for businesses, or do you think it's just an odd accident people switching from one broadband provider to another get discounts and loyal customers get nothing? Or that people get bonus rebates at their local Ford dealer when they trade in a similarly-classed Chevy vehicle?
Once you have a customer under your umbrella it's easier to keep them there, because many people don't want to go through the hassle change entails, so you can spend more energy trying to create churn that benefits you.
As an Apple user I have to agree that there are not many compelling reasons left to upgrade. With many of the older models, Apple brought something exciting that was worth having: good performance upgrades, a convenient and secure (compared to the competition) fingerprint scanner, nice designs, better cameras... not necessarily being ahead of Android competitors, but still good reasons to get a new phone if you prefer iOS like I do. But the last few years have brought very little that I want. The phones are the same except for one new larger model, though they make 'em out of different material since the iPhone 7 IIRC, so trying to hold on to the newer ones feels like trying to hold a very thin wet bar of soap.
Moving to a standard USB-C connector would be nice though. Not enough reason in itself to upgrade the phone, but it would help. Now just be brave, end the thinness war, add a physical home button again with fingerprint scanner, give us a bezel instead of a notch, or just drop the front-facing camera completely (along with the inane face unlock) and add a small screen to the back of the phone for taking selfies. A lot of the recent stuff they have done such as the notch, dropping the headphone jack, face unlock, all feel like they are rather clumsy workarounds.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
No they didn't. They did it to make it cheaper to make.
Wanna buy a shirt?
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The update that can be turned on and off you mean? Is that worse than no updates at all leaving users vulnerable?
No you can turn off the "feature" that slows the OS down when the battery is old and struggling (or replace the battery). As for the rest of your post, Slashdot is no place for rational analysis and common sense ;-). I actually have an Android phone as well, a Galaxy S4, and it runs nicely with LineageOS 14 but to me it should be up to Samsung or Google to provide this rather than abandoning their customers after 18 months maximum.
In general, a slow charge is better for the battery. Fast-charging can be done with minimal harm to the battery if certain conditions are met. For more details see the link below. (Link discusses in terms of Li-ion, not sure if Apple has switched to LiPo but we can assume they behave similarly to Li-ion).
https://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/ultra_fast_chargers
"...Apple is resistant to changing the included accessories to maintain production costs."
understandable, they barely make a profit with selling price they're asking for those phones.
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
Why would anyone want OS updates for 5 years and no Google watching your every move?
The people who want OS updates and no apple owning them?
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
One example was the adoption of gym equipment. When lightening first hit the scene the ability to play or even charge your phone from the equipment, while using the elliptical vanished. There is always something cool about knowing that I was generating my own re-charge power through my work out.
I have a love hate relationship with the lightning connector. I love the fact that it’s reversible. I also love the fact that the connector is smooth and not prone to dents and dings. Micro USB tends to get worn out over time. When I plug in to recharge my son’s Kindle the cable is so loose that it could practically fall back out. It doesn’t matter how new the charging cable is, it is the socket that does not fit snugly. But I definitely hate the fact that the cable seems to die so much quicker. I don’t know if it is the design or what, but with the old connector I still have cables laying around that work to this day. It seems I am having to swap out my lightning cables annually. It is not even just the cheap third-party ones either. I’ve had the ones package with the phone fail as well. I have one that only works in one direction, i.e. it is not reversible; partial failure.
I guess I need to take a closer look at USB-C. I don’t have any equipment that uses this. I wonder if they addressed some of the delicate nature of micro USB. Don’t get me wrong it’s highly functional, but the connector never seems to mesh together effortlessly. I have seen sockets damaged because somebody tried to push it in the wrong way. They probably shouldn’t have pushed as hard but on the flipside it’s just not as resilient.
Give the exact same phone as the 6S plus with a longer battery and a faster CPU and I'll buy it before it ships. But no headphone jack and no touch ID is a deal breaker. I'm simply no wasting money on a phone which removes features. iPhone 6S Plus was the best phone Apple ever made. I'll keep repairing the one I have until Apple makes a legitimate replacement.
Face ID - nice feature, but doesn't actually add convenience.
Wireless charging - useless feature since I can't charge while watching the phone. The charger needs a cable anyway.
Edge to edge screen - means I can't use a protective cover to avoid breaking the glass and still be able to reach all parts of the screen. Also, holding the phone from the sides becomes difficult as it interferes with the text.
Swiping gestures to replace the home - means you have to swipe either side of the phone. If I use the phone right handed, I can manage this, but left handed, I end up dropping it all the time.
I upgraded from the iPhone X 256GB to the iPhone 6S plus and it was the biggest upgrade I ever made on a phone.
The site explains that Lightning port is not going anywhere and Apple is resistant to changing the included accessories to maintain production costs.
Just remember Apple is claiming to be eco-friendly while producing hundreds of millions of unnecessary, proprietary, and redundant connectors instead of using an industry standard USB-C cable that would accomplish exactly the same purpose AND waste less in the process. Not to mention that USB-C can transfer data faster (480Mbps vs 10Gbps), transfer more power (12W vs 100W), be double ended, and work with other devices.
When Lightning was introduced it was an improvement over the truly awful microUSB connectors. USB-C has eliminated any reason for Lightning to continue to exist other than profit seeking and vendor lock in.
There may be a rationale for 5W versus 20W chargers that has to do with making the phone batteries degrade slower and reduce the risk of fire.
But I do know that my phone gets pretty warm when it is charging and though heat flux does not scale perfectly linearly with temperature, for small differences it's linear enough to say that if you double the charging rate you will double the temperature rise.
Since I'd not want a phone that was 3 times hotter than room temperature rise than it gets now I think this battery charge rate is fixed by this. The only way to do better would be to make the charging heat loss closer to the thermodynamic limit. it's possible different batteries can have different charging heat losses but I'd guess that every phone maker uses the most efficient one currently possible.
Some fixed fraction of every watt that fluxes into storage goes into heat. I'm not quite sure what that amount is, certainly the laws of thermodynamics put a lower bound on that but if it's like most things it's way more than that, probably in double digit percentages.
So that goes to heat. The battery has a fixed surface area to volume ratio. So the rate at which is can dissipate this heat to it's surroundings is fixed by that, which apple can control, and the surroundings which apple cannot control. e.g. is it in the foam padded (insulating) pocket of your back or jacket? Is it under a pillow or a sheaf of papers. Is it standing up in the air or flat in on a table?
If you plan for a reasonable first case, and then build in thermal protection for the rest, then one can figure out how much the temperature inside the battery can get up to for any given charge rate.
At some point the battery is harmed by this temperature. It might just degrade its lifetime but in some cases that degradation also increases the chance of fire or battery swelling.
In any case there is some maximum advisable charge rate for a given size battery.
if this is the limit, then It would seem reasonable that an ipad with many times the surfaces area (and volume) could sustain a higher charge rate than an iphone.
I cant say that apple is bumping into this limit because it's too hard to guess without knowing what the battery limits are. But given how warm the phone gets now I'd say they can't charge much faster without making it a lot hotter.
Finally I'll note that this is slightly different than short term fast charging. Since the phone and batter also have a heat capacity, it's possible to temporarily charge the phone up to some total energy without appreciable temperature rise. SO you may be able to partially charge the battery quite fast. But at some point you would have to fall back to the thermodynamic limit described above.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Ye olde USB 1 isn't going away anytime soon, because it is cheap to implement. That makes it ideal for low-cost, low-bandwidth devices, especially input devices. And USB 2 has to stick around for another decade or so because of legacy flash drives and cameras. Consequently we will have all forms of USB for the foreseeable future.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Business schools teach a "potential new consumer" is worth about 10% of an existing consumer. Because he is likely to have many reasons not to switch. (You think a new cord is a bigger deal than his entire app library?) You want to keep your customers happy first.
The Ford example is very wrong because it's not a potential new customer. It's a new customer.
And frankly, I don't see anyone switching to an iPhone who is going to care about the cables. If you're willing to pay a premium for the hardware/OS/store, then you're willing to pay a premium for a new cable. Meanwhile, if you think getting rid of the headphone jack made people not want to upgrade, get rid of their new lightning headphones, and all their other accessories. Getting rid of the lightning port hurts their best customers the most.
Also, the lightning cable is better than USB-C. It's more solid (can support the weight of the phone), and it's more wear resistant and it's designed so the wear goes more on the cable, not the phone.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
Because "industry standard" wires don't use natural resources.
Using a standard cable means you need less of them in total. It means that nobody has to create tooling or waste energy or transport a second type of cable. This costs real money, uses real energy and is easily shown to be wasteful.