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Apple forced to ditch iPhone lightning charger
(www.bbc.com)
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this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
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In apple's defense, lightning pre-dates USB-C by a few years. There are a ton of lightning accessories in the wild that have been made useless e-waste by this forced change. I'm glad we're all on an agreed-upon standard, though. It had to happen at some point.
Before lightning and USB-C every manufacturer had their own connector. Then the EU told the manufacturers toneither come up with a common connector or they would regulate. Then, Apple started with lighting and other manufacturers joined under micro USB B. The EU was still not happy because Apple went their own way and, after USB C came out and was good (micro USB was quite bad TBF) they forced everyone to use USB C
They knew USB C was coming, they still didn't give a fuck.
They were the first/earliest to release a consumer a consumer device with USB C. They were also part of the consortium that developed USB C.
I think they were scared of the backlash they got the first time they switched from the iPod connector the lighting cable. This made them promise not to change the connector for 10 years.
If they changed earlier they would have broken their promise.
Apple should have had the foresight to see USB C was on the way. It was released two years after lighting.
It's possible apple was convinced the connector should work either way unlike USB micro. But the USB consortium preferred a simpler design that was not reversible. Releasing the lighting connector forced the USB consortium to accept a reversible connector.