Yeah it’s a really weird reputation Apple’s gotten, but it’s completely unfair. In the time I’ve been using Android smartphones they’ve switched from micro-USB to USB-C.
Over that same time period, Apple has always used Lightning.
Go back a bit further and Apple’s older 30-pin connector comes into play, but that’s still just 2 cables in the entire history of smartphones so far. Compare that to the proprietary cables that could often vary by model on the various devices that existed prior to Apple and Android taking over the market and it’s a pretty good situation.
iPads have been a little worse, going from 30-pin to lightning and starting to use USB-C in 2018. But still, even that’s been very stable since then.
There’s plenty of legitimate things to criticise Apple for. Like their opposition to the right to repair. We don’t need to be making shit up.
That’s fair. I do know that miniB phones were few and far between, since the microB was popularized shortly after the smartphone was starting to go ubiquitous. I know about HTC phones, since those were where my experience was with early smartphones (specifically the HTC Dream and HTC Hero, which both had miniB).
That reputation is definitely unfair for their mobile devices but extremely fair for their laptops. 3 different magsafe connecters, switched to thunderbolt, switched to a new magsafe connector all over again, all in 10 or so years.
That’s a fair point. Though I’d point out that two of the three pre-Thunderbolt (which—and I assume you know this, but I’m adding it in for the casual reader who might not know—uses the USB-C connector) Magsafe cables actually used the same connector, so you could use them interchangeably. They just improved the way the cable itself worked to come out at an angle instead of 90º. And that the new post-Thunderbolt Magsafe laptops can also be charged using the Thunderbolt/USB-C ports, so it’s only adding a new option, not replacing one.
So it’s definitely worse than their mobile devices, but not quite as bad as it might at first seem.
It’s not an unfair reputation at all. I still have trauma from needing to buy new 24/30pin connectors every couple iPod generations. They absolutely did that shit on purpose, and lightning might have been a more moderate version of their planned obsolescence peripheral policy, but there was no fucking reason in the world for them to stick with the inferior lightning standard, other than forced fragmentation of the peripheral market. Apple knows that the number one reason people don’t even consider switching away from iPhone is because of all their lightning peripherals
This is a weirdly untrue comment. The iPod used FireWire for a couple generations before switching to 30 pin and never changing again throughout the rest of the history of the classic iPod form factor.
And a cable has nothing to do with why people buy or stick with an Apple or Google device. A switch to USB C would be better for everyone and Apple knows it (otherwise why switch the iPad to usb c? Why not put proprietary connectors on macs???)
Also? If Apple switched to USB C when it was invented AFTER Lightning, you’d be complaining even harder about how Apple keeps switching their ports to get you to buy more cables. Better late than never
Nothing and no-one other than Apple though, so I would welcome them being forced to use a universal standard instead of that ugly-ass fucking conglomerate of multiple types of bullshit proprietary standard they keep pushing so they can get even more money.
I’d be way happier with Apple existing if they wouldn’t always push these overly obvious proprietary money grabbing bullshit.
They don’t change it every generation. Apple has been using the lightning port since 2012.
Yeah it’s a really weird reputation Apple’s gotten, but it’s completely unfair. In the time I’ve been using Android smartphones they’ve switched from micro-USB to USB-C.
Over that same time period, Apple has always used Lightning.
Go back a bit further and Apple’s older 30-pin connector comes into play, but that’s still just 2 cables in the entire history of smartphones so far. Compare that to the proprietary cables that could often vary by model on the various devices that existed prior to Apple and Android taking over the market and it’s a pretty good situation.
iPads have been a little worse, going from 30-pin to lightning and starting to use USB-C in 2018. But still, even that’s been very stable since then.
There’s plenty of legitimate things to criticise Apple for. Like their opposition to the right to repair. We don’t need to be making shit up.
Don’t forget miniB USB before the microB.
It went: proprietary–>open standard MiniB–>open standard MicroB–>open standard C.
On iPhone: proprietary 30pin–>proprietary Lightning
I didn’t forget it, I just have never seen a phone with mini USB. I’ve still actually got some devices that use it, but never a phone.
Not doubting that they exist, but I was very explicitly comparing my own personal experience to the Apple one.
That’s fair. I do know that miniB phones were few and far between, since the microB was popularized shortly after the smartphone was starting to go ubiquitous. I know about HTC phones, since those were where my experience was with early smartphones (specifically the HTC Dream and HTC Hero, which both had miniB).
That reputation is definitely unfair for their mobile devices but extremely fair for their laptops. 3 different magsafe connecters, switched to thunderbolt, switched to a new magsafe connector all over again, all in 10 or so years.
That’s a fair point. Though I’d point out that two of the three pre-Thunderbolt (which—and I assume you know this, but I’m adding it in for the casual reader who might not know—uses the USB-C connector) Magsafe cables actually used the same connector, so you could use them interchangeably. They just improved the way the cable itself worked to come out at an angle instead of 90º. And that the new post-Thunderbolt Magsafe laptops can also be charged using the Thunderbolt/USB-C ports, so it’s only adding a new option, not replacing one.
So it’s definitely worse than their mobile devices, but not quite as bad as it might at first seem.
If every cell phone brand acted like Apple we would have like thirty different proprietary chargers.
We shouldn’t give them a pass just because they’re the only ones brazen enough to be stupid.
It used to be the case, just like it was for laptops until very recently.
It’s not an unfair reputation at all. I still have trauma from needing to buy new 24/30pin connectors every couple iPod generations. They absolutely did that shit on purpose, and lightning might have been a more moderate version of their planned obsolescence peripheral policy, but there was no fucking reason in the world for them to stick with the inferior lightning standard, other than forced fragmentation of the peripheral market. Apple knows that the number one reason people don’t even consider switching away from iPhone is because of all their lightning peripherals
This is a weirdly untrue comment. The iPod used FireWire for a couple generations before switching to 30 pin and never changing again throughout the rest of the history of the classic iPod form factor.
And a cable has nothing to do with why people buy or stick with an Apple or Google device. A switch to USB C would be better for everyone and Apple knows it (otherwise why switch the iPad to usb c? Why not put proprietary connectors on macs???)
Also? If Apple switched to USB C when it was invented AFTER Lightning, you’d be complaining even harder about how Apple keeps switching their ports to get you to buy more cables. Better late than never
Nothing and no-one other than Apple though, so I would welcome them being forced to use a universal standard instead of that ugly-ass fucking conglomerate of multiple types of bullshit proprietary standard they keep pushing so they can get even more money.
I’d be way happier with Apple existing if they wouldn’t always push these overly obvious proprietary money grabbing bullshit.