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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...
"...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.
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.
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.
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