Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Linus is in Shock”.
I want to talk about Apple, switching to USBC, um Apple switch to USBC on the iPhone 15. It’S at you. I was kind of hoping that was going to be the whole time. Yeah, it’s USB 2.0 speeds, whereas on the iPhone 15 Pro it does USB 3. At speeds of up to 10 gigabit per second – and I saw a lot of people upset about it, but um we were about halfway through script review. When I looked at ploof who who was the writer for for our video – and I was like this – is not them just hamstringing the 15., this is probably because the 15 uses the a16 bionic.
It probably legitimately, doesn’t have a USB 3 controller, and so we looked and we were like okay well, what other devices have used the a16 bionic, because if an iPad did, for example, then, if that iPad supported USB 3? Well, then it was definitely on the Silicon. But they never used it in an iPad. It was an iPhone only SOC. So I think it’s been confirmed at this point, but I was. I was really glad that we didn’t like lay into Apple about it, because, obviously, if it’s not on the hardware, it’s not going to be in there, so we will likely see an iPhone 16. If it’s based on a 17 silicon uh, could they just align that numbering? Please, like just skip one for one or something anyway, we would likely see an iPhone 16 with the a17 be equipped with USB 3, as as sort of just a generational upgrade over the iPhone 15, which has a Oh Lordy, uh, 16 silicon in it um. So you get USB type c, I believe it’s up to 20 watts of charging uh you get USB 2 speeds on the iPhone 15 USB 3 speeds on the iPhone 15 Pro, and obviously the probe Max or Ultra whatever the heck they’re calling everything these days, and I think that’s pretty much everything to say about the Apple event.
They also have a new watch or two and um yeah. You guys can watch the video summary that we did the other day, but this was also even though Apple will not admit it. As part of you know, their Innovation announcement launch event or whatever else. This is also due to pressure from the EU, oh absolutely to standardize the cables and and wall warts and all of the all of the bits and pieces that we need for device charging um.
That Apple has apparently decided to comply with rather than go. You know full take my ball and go home and just moved everything Wireless like was has been speculated over the over the last few years. I have seen a lot of arguments um, not all of which I can. I can defeat both ways for this.
On the one hand, the EU, the eu’s action here towards platform interoperability and, in the case of Apple, reducing waste and okay, I’d like to stop everyone who is saying well what about all the lightning cables that are going to be wasted now, all of those lightning Cables were going to be wasted. Yeah, the difference is now we aren’t going to keep manufacturing any more of them. That’S the point eventually lightning was going to go away. Apple’S been moving away from lightning for like six years.
It’S just a matter of how many more of these bloody things we keep making that will eventually be thrown away. In fact, every USBC cable is probably going to be thrown away at some point, but at least by standardizing it we can produce fewer of them so that we don’t need to have more than one cable for our iPad and for our iPhone and then another one. For our iPad and our iPhone in our in our you know, you know, carry uh, you know a bag that we take to and from work, etc, etc. We’Re trying it’s a reduction move.
It’S not that it’s not that suddenly um! You know all those lightning cables are garbage and and and and that’s you know – we’ve done a Bad Thing by switching over to USBC it’s. We will stop producing lightning cables at some point in the near future, and that is a good thing. That’S that’s the whole point of it. So with that said, I have seen arguments that you know the eu’s move might not necessarily be if even if it’s a good move this time, it might set a really bad precedent, because let’s talk about lightning for a second people like to dunk on it today, But lightning was huge when it came out. I actually really liked lightning major advantage iPhone when lightning was first introduced compared to USB micro b, which was a piece of crap, and you can quote the rated insertions all day.
I don’t care. I do not believe you, my anecdotal experience with USB micro b has been extensive enough and negative enough that you will never sell me that micro b was anything other than a failed standard. It was a bad connector, fragile finicky, terrible also the space advantage over mini B negligible if every phone had just used Mini B.
Until we got type c, I would have been way happier with that and minibe was a piece of crap. I even have uh some weird hot takes about lightning as a non-apple user. They actually just like the connector more yeah.
I find it plugs in feels better, I’m not even talking compared to micro b. I’M talking compared to C sure I find it plugs in significantly. Better yep, it has a really clear tactile. Yes, I am inserted right now I feel um. I I think it’s slightly smaller.
Is that accurate, um then type c yeah yeah, it’s it’s marginally yeah! So it’s a little bit so you got ta account for the housing on the other side and you know yeah. So it’s hard to like really know marginally smaller, but I think it’s slightly smaller and the plug-in feels like wildly better. I’Ve always like kind of wished that the actual standard was the lightning cable. The problem is that lightning is too small to have enough conductors for modern functionality, I’m just talking from a like tactile, shirt, yeah and that’s a big part of why lightning has lost its luster, because while it does have actually more conductors than usb2, I forget what Apple uses them, for I think it’s like um auxiliary data transfer like that’s how they’re able to do HDMI over lightning and stuff, like that.
It is at significantly lower bandwidth than a real HDMI connection, but it does allow them to do additional things that you wouldn’t be able to do with straight up. Usb2, yes chat. I know they’re bums about the licensing, I’m I’m also even looking right now at a USBC to lightning adapter. That is forty dollars um.
I I’m just talking about the tactile experience of using the cable actually very much like lightning. That’S all I’m saying sue for AWS says too few conductors, isn’t a hard problem to solve, it sure is actually yeah what it dramatically increases the complexity of the ICS at either end to have fewer fewer conductors like they have to operate at it. You either have to increase your the speed of the cars on the road or you have to increase the number of lanes, and so USBC adds a more speed and B a lot more lanes for data to travel along compared to a lightning connector um with that Said why um mystery me says USB 3 was possible over lightning. The iPad Pros that had lightning supported USB 3 speeds over lightning was.
Is that enough hold on a second USB uh, because USB 3 was 9 conductors when we got it? Lightning is only seven so that would have been. I don’t know every one of my lightning cables has burned pins as Reckoning. Okay, that’s something I haven’t personally experienced, although I haven’t used it a fair bit, but we do have people talking in the chat about some um design flaws in lightning. Oh lightning is eight okay.
I did not know that I knew like I thought. Lightning was seven. Okay, either way either way for whatever reason whether it was cost on the device side, whether it was cost of the implementation on the client side.
Apple did not broadly roll out higher data speeds over lightning. Usbc is clearly the path forward and is so much more capable so much more standardized and generally the right decision. Why don’t we just leave it at that and then go into the next thing that I want to discuss, which is arguably they got it right. This time, but given in general governing bodies, it has a potential of stifle Innovation, understanding of tech generally. It also has a potential to cause things like USB Forum to fall into complacency.
What are the odds they’re going to get it right? Every time yeah it’s my bigger question, because yeah those are those are totally valid concerns now. Are we stuck with USBC forever forever? Is a long freaking time, yeah and and and you’re right yeah? We we can, we can make the cars drive faster and we do have a lot more flexibility in the USBC standard than we do in something like lightning there’s a lot more conductors, but is it going to be perfect forever? I mean no. I can already see things about it that aren’t perfect, like, like you said, the the tactile feel of the insertion is, is not as good there’s tiny, tiny little pins, tiny, tiny little contacts on both sides. It can be a little bit fragile.
It can also be Not Fragile. We did that uh. We did that video ages ago, back when James started, one of his first jobs was to unplug and plug in an external drive, like literally thousands of times until we managed to wear out every connector, but the type C, or something like that.
I think we went to the rated number of insertions. It was literally thousands of times. Um angle of insertion is not as wide says, fioringo yeah exactly. There are definitely problems with type c. So are we stuck with it forever now, and should we be allowing these governing bodies to make these decisions? Was there ever a referendum on this? Is this actually democratic? I have no.
I have no idea. I can’t speak to that at all. I have no clue. No okay, yeah, it’s not Democratic, okay, so man – I am, I am torn man, uh yeah, what happens when lobbyists get involved and and then they just you know, pass down edicts that are advantageous to. I don’t know Microsoft over over Apple. What recourse is there? I? I love the decisions that were made in this case because I I’m gon na I’m gon na, be my understanding is that this uh, this chat thing is gon na apply to iMessage as well. So we could end up seeing RCS supported at least in Europe, and if the type C connector is anything to go by, if they support it in Europe to avoid peeving off their American and Asian customers and Australian.
I remember you guys and also not just like Antarctica, do everything all the continents – okay, um, in order to yeah in order to not peeve off the rest of their customers, I would hope that we would see RCS intercompatibility implemented everywhere else in general. I really agree with the things that they’re doing. I just worry that you know you can start out with good intentions and end up doing the wrong things really really easily.
I don’t have a solution to this. No, but I’m really glad that iPhones are type c now yeah all right, I mean, I guess, yeah, there’s not really um Dan. Do you have any thoughts on this? Are you just busy typing responses to people? I don’t know honestly. I do think it’s interesting how you know one governing body by themselves for the protection of their own consumers and constituents makes one decision and then all the companies are required to jump on it, because it’s cheaper to make one skew two skus. That doesn’t mean they’re required to no, no, no, no because they’re required by the hand of capitalism. If you want to think about it that way, product development has gotten so expensive.
No! No! I agree, but it’s just sorry. Thank you. Yeah! The clarification is important there that is required. Sure .