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Apple forced to ditch iPhone lightning charger
(www.bbc.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
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.