Apple's iPhone 5 connector said to be a control freak Rumors that the iPhone's familiar 30-pin connector will be replaced in the iPhone 5 with a Micro-USB port have riled the fanbois universe, inciting charges of planned obsolecense and worse. New reports, however, point not to a standard Micro-USB port, but a new – and proprietary – Apple port. A bit of background: in case you …
They have messed with their 30 pin ports in the past, which is why some old accessories don't work with newer devices. I remember getting a new iPod at one point, and some of my chargers didn't work with it.
Even now, the power requirements differ between devices. My iPhone will charge from my pc USB port, but my iPad doesn't.....
Wouldn't surprise me at all if they changed it all again, but that's the great thing about rumours, we won't know for sure till the 'new iPhone' is launched...
Erm, I think you'll find that the PC USB port will adhere to the USB standard. USB 2 according to the specs will supply up to 500mA. USB 3 will supply up to 900mA. The power adaptor for the ipad supplies up to 2A. So even if you have a USB 3 port, that is still less than half the power of the ipad charger.
You're absolutely right — specifically the port carried both Firewire and USB, the Firewire pins being one source of power that iPods could charge from. The Firewire functionality was removed so those chargers that supplied only via that connection ceased to function.
If they swap connectors, expect adaptors to flourish.
To be fair, that is because the first iPods were connected via Firewire, not via USB. There was not reasonable way they could have been USB, because that was the time of USB 1.1, which simply was not fast enough to put all your music on an iPod in a reasonable time.
When USB 2.0 became ubiquitous, iPods for a time supported both standards, then for a time they dropped the Firewire data connection but allowed Firewire charging, and finally went to USB only.
I find it hard to blame Apple for anything there - standards simply changed.
You're right, we forget how slow USB 1.1 was, but at the time we didn't mind because it was still new and cool to plug in a peripheral and use it without first restarting the PC! My digital camera at the time used standard floppy disks. Optical mice were still new. Getting a 3 MB Word file from a home computer to the Reprographics department could still be headache. CAD software had only been aimed at Windows machines for a few years, and often still looked like a UNIX port. Halo was going to be a game for Macs. Everyone had a Nokia; the battery lasted for weeks but your call-time top up lasted minutes. VHS ruled.
FireWire was already in Macs, because Apple only seemed to have survived the nineties by being used in specific sectors, those that used high resolution scanners, digital camcorders and audio interfaces. It gave them a bit of a head start when they wanted to introduce a device measured in GBs not MBs.
One of the many reasons I've given for not wanting to get an iPhone is their special connector. You can get just about anything, from a TV to a car, with a built in Apple dock.
But I've warned people over and over, once you go down the Apple road, its hard to get out as everything you have uses their special connection.
No doubt, they will sell a new to old converter for the next few years, before they make that redundant too, till you all rush out and by new junk with Apple connections, while everyone else who use different brands of phone and mp3 player can hop between manufacturers and not have to change everything they own to fit it.
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I work with accessories for the iPhone and over the years Apple has actually been substantially reducing the licensing costs and complexity for iPod/iPhone/iPad accessories. For most devices there is a cost, but it's small fixed amount, similar to a codec license. Recently for Bluetooth 4 devices they have dropped MFI licensing altogether.
If they do change the connector, there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth, but people will still buy them because they're iPhones.
As an aside, I can't see a magsafe connector making the phone more secure in a car mounting scenario. I thought the idea of magsafe was to make them quick-breakaway so that you didn't pull your Macbook off the desk when you tripped over the cord. Or at least that's what the "I'm a Mac" guy told us.
Magsafe connectors are secure until a threshold level of force is applied- in an automotive situation, this would mean that the phone would't 'creep' off its mount due to vibration.
Somehow, I can't see Apple 'doing a Nokia'* without good reason- the abundance of kit for iDevices gives them the edge in convenience compared to other PMPs and phones. I guess it would have been too sensible for makers of rival devices to knock their heads together and come up with a rival dock-connector standard- Google could have taken a lead here, as Android leader. AFAIK only Sony have tried; bless em.
*go from having two compatible chargers in every home, to 'WTF is this skinny thing?' to 'its got a f^%^ing mini / micro USB socket, why isn't the wretched thing charging off it? FFS!'
We just need another Tesla. Electrical engineers hate us telling this but just imagine Tesla had access to computers with today's knowledge.
It is 2012 and all we talk is whether a magnet need for a copper or its plug standard. Typing this on a dual core htc which I will have to plug soon. Nobody sees how pathetic it is? :)
Uh huh.
So, still using VHS? USB1? Floppy disks? Cassette tapes? Buggy whips?
Part of the market, particularly in electronics and computing, is that when the latest and greatest is released, it's not really the latest and greatest because the latest and greatest's replacement is already in the lab and will be out within three years.
So you can recognize this and deal with it, and recognize that Apple is more of a leader than a follower in this. Or you can stick with older tech and then have to upgrade when you get left behind. Your choice.
The iGadget power cables always fall apart - the cable jacket separates from the docking connection even with careful use. The original cables supplied with the iPods and iPhones all failed within a few months. The expensive genuine replacement cables failed in exactly the same way. Now we buy "OEM" ? cables in bulk from an overseas supplier (DX) - at least they're cheap enough that we've mitigated the financial impact of this Apple design FAIL.
I've never seen such a poor and unreliable design. Shame on Apple.
If Apple is now planning to lock out the aftermarket suppliers of $3 power cables, and not fix the design, this one stupid thing will have me looking at other options.
"...Poundland..."
That's the point! I *do* now buy my "OEM" cables in bulk from DX; so it's only a minor inconvenience. No longer a huge financial drain. But if they're going to cut-off the DX and Poundlands of the world with a stupid chip inside the new cables and allow only $15 to $20 genuine Apple cables, then they damn well better make sure that they last three or four years for everyone. And not have a systematic design flaw.
It's not a big deal at $3 each. It is a show stopper at $15 to $20.
It's inexcusable that Apple would allow such a poor design loose. If they've fixed it, I've not seen any sign of any improvement through multiple generations.
The new cable design was introduced with the new iPad so you may have missed it.
Here's a photo of both side by side the new one has a much larger strain relief.
"The iGadget power cables always fall apart - the cable jacket separates from the docking connection even with careful use."
Well, you're not supposed to use it for mountain climbing, you know. Or even for light bondage. If you only use it to connect one consumer electronic device to another, it seems to work pretty well, at least in my experience.
The main irritation is that they don't supply the length of flex that can sit between the wall socket bit and the white transformer bit that comes standard with a MacBook. Using the Macbook one has significantly increased my "user experience" of the iPad (I can sit on the sofa now while it charges).
That's really useful, and given the cost of an iPad smacks of penny pinching not to lob one in the box; it's not as if it required a redesign for the tablet, it's the same fitting as the plug already there. Just a useful addition.
iPhone 3GS times two.
iPod gen 3
iPod gen 4
iPhone 4S
Yes, looks like we skipped the 4. Right you are. The rest were all basically identical. The genuine cables fell apart with light use.
Obviously YMMV. But 'Apple Cable Failure Deniers' are perfectly unhelpful. Pointless replies.
We've got a bunch and the only one we had fail was when a five-year-old (who could break an anvil; it's a talent) used it. If you use them PROPERLY, they're pretty well made. Unfortunately, we have kids, and you know what that means.
Hmmm, this house has had at least 4 psp's pass through it and I have performed repair surgery on them multiple times but always the control rockers and only once requiring a really major disassembly. The chargers and cables have always survived the unit's demise or replacement for the new model. And my wife is death to cabling able to get it tangled by looking at it and not caring it is.
So I don't recognise your comment. Though if anyone wants to buy old, barely functional psp's . . .
Still on the first one here.
No 2 son dropped it while it still had a cable plugged in the other day. Turns out that the charger socket is simple to replace. Shame he had the headphones in, that one's a bit of a bitch to get at.
Sony kit does seem to be way more DIY-maintenance friendly than most. As a result, parts availability is also good.
This is why, when I had to replace my car radio, I got one without an i dock. It was really difficult to get a radio without one, which also had bluetooth and DAB. I've had the last radio for about 15 years and I expect any replacement to last that long, so I'm not going to buy one with a proprietary connector.
Similarly, my Lidl car stereo has, in addition to an SD card slot, a USB socket. Since I have always chosen Mass Storage Class ("drag and drop") personal audio players, such as those by Sanza or iRiver, this USB solution works well for me.
Even if it didn't, I could fall back on removing the microSD from the PMP, and slot it in the stereo directly.
However, I won't knock those that use the iDevice ecosystem, because it does offer convenience. I happen to prefer flexibility.
>Lidl car stereo? Man, that has to be the best anti theft device ever!
Hehe, it probably is; however Lidl electronics like stereos and computer mice ( branded 'Silvercrest') usually carry a three year guarantee. No complaints. Before I bought one, I had considered just leaving the hole in my dashboard, in which would live a 3.5 mm jack leading to a hidden amplifier- to deter thieves!
Anyway, I think thieves these days are more interested Sat-Nav units - easier to swipe, easier to pocket, easier to move on because not everybody has one yet.
For similar reasons, its probably not a good idea to have an iPod dock cable snaking out of your dashboard - someone might take a punt on you having an iPod in your glovebox!
Works the other way around too.
Many years ago, a mate returned to his car in the company car park to find a crowd standing around. A new Fiesta had been broken into and had its radio nicked.
All his eye-wateringly expensive Pioneer kit was present and correct. Still installed in his rusty old Austin Allegro parked next to the Fiesta........
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Apple just needs room in the iPhone for something. It seems they are moving the headphone socket to the bottom, which means the dock connector needs to shrink to make room for that. With a taller display and case this gives at least half an inch of room over the full width and depth of the phone. What for is anyone's guess, mine is: a camera with an optical zoom.
Or this is just about milking the customer and nothing else. In this case I will sell my iPhone 4 and jump ship to Android and will never look back.
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It doesn't do half of the things Apple's connector does: analog audio, component/composite video, VGA, car interface. Analog audio+charging being quite useful to simply connect it to the car via a single cable.
It even has a TTL-level serial port for the hobbyists among us. Plus extra paths for whatever the future holds..
Clearly Samsung realised this and also opted for a proprietary, PDMI-like (in fact similar to Apple's) 30 pin, connector on their tablets. But, at least to me, it makes little sense to have different connectors for tablets and phones...
Many high street shops carry Apple compatible cable, for example Poundland. Plenty of chinese unbranded adapters for HDMI, USB, etc too. So I really don't see the problem. If Apple does make the connector smaller I'm sure there will be an adapter too, and dirt cheap clones the next week.
"It doesn't do half of the things Apple's connector does: analog audio, component/composite video, VGA, car interface. Analog audio+charging being quite useful to simply connect it to the car via a single cable."
Analog audio? Bluetooth
Component/composite video? 1XMicro USB -HDMI
VGA? Again. 1XMicro USB -HDMI, same adaptor, because everything in the real world uses HDMI now.
Car Interface? Again. Bluetooth with AVRCP
"It even has a TTL-level serial port for the hobbyists among us. Plus extra paths for whatever the future holds.."
You see the problem with apple's connectors and the "future" is that if anything, history has shown us that apple connectors HAVE no future, It'll change within 2 years.
So why does it not do half the things that apple's connector does, Because it doesn't have to, mmkay?
Would rather have universal connectors and radio signal for my stuff as then I'm not tied to one manufacturer.
Oh yeah, AND I don't have to buy loads of adaptors to make it work. ;D
Whoaa quite a lot of wrong assumptions, there ...
1) If anything history has shown us that Apple is the manufacturer who has held kept their connector the longest.. even Nokia only kept the famous pop-port for 5 years.. Apple is going on 11 and counting!
2) Replacing analog audio with Bluetooth is much more expensive to start with and the audio quality does not match. Also for non-technical users you can't beat the simplicity of just connecting the phone to a dock to get audio, no pairing needed... Finally AVRCP far from covers everything, e.g. selecting playlists or seeing cover art, that's possible via the car iPod interface.
3) Everything uses HDMI? Not in the projector world it doesn't.
>> It's also possible and common over the MicroUSB Mass Storage Class
Not only does that need a DAC, but there's two incompatible modes for that: USB Mass Storage (UMS) like most Android phones except the Galaxy Nexus (that I know of), or MTP like the Galaxy Nexus, some Blackberrys and MP3 players.
Most USB port-equipped car audio system support one or the other, but not both. Some never pick up the phone over USB at all (probably buggy implementations that just work for USB sticks). It's a mess. Analog is really simple and practically fail proof.
Apple's connector has been around for a lot longer than 2 years.
And I completely fail to see what exactly, according to you, is the big advantage of having to switch between regular microusb-usb cable, microusb-hdmi cable and bluetooth connectivity, instead of the one cable fits all approach of current devices.
Apple doing one of their trade mark reality distortion field demos showing of a bunch of different adapters for different uses sounds a lot less likely than them introducing a new one cable fits all, and look, it's magnetic too, scenario.
Maybe that's just me.
Yep, the last cable I bought was from a petrol station for £4. It was USB A to 3-way mini, micro USB and iPod dock connector (I use microUSB for charging my phone from my car stereo). I don't own an iDevice, but didn't begrudge its dock connector being there; I just felt that Nokia users had been left out.
I doubt it. There will be an adapter if this change turns out to be true. Apple made an adapter for their recent smaller magsafe update too.
Apple's 30 pin dock connector has been around for almost 11 years, with the only major change being dropping Firewire support 7 years ago.
Based on this I'd say changing it is not something Apple would take lightly without a compatibility option.
Their 30 pin connector sucks. If this one is more durable, then the change is good. As far as Apple kit goes, buy a blue tooth enabled sound device and then you can play pretty much anything regardless of the maker.
"Scoble cited one other reason for the switch: "To control device manufacturers much more completely."
They've already had an authentication chip to force out the el-cheapo market. If they don't like your product, they aren't going to sell it to you. They have quite a few conditions that go with this chip too. At least they do work with vendors to minimize the problems from changes, currently, which is something that they neglected to do for far too long. Does the writer think that Apple is gonna have an extra-strong authentication chip?
Only if you selectively quote things. The whole phrase is: "the same as the magnetic power connectors that many deep fryers and Japanese countertop cooking appliances from the early 2000s have"
Those have much larger connectors and are for 110V AC, not DC. No nice charging LED there either. As someone else was saying the other day there is a lot of "science and engineering that going into each process shrink". If it was so obvious and easy why didn't the other PC manufacturers do it before?
@dx Hiya. I think tfewster felt it was a fail on the part of the US patent office is because it didn't seem sufficiently 'non-obvious' to him. Like being given a patent for 'zips in jackets' because the previous use of zips was in jeans.
> If it was so obvious and easy why didn't the other PC manufacturers do it before?
I agree. Other PC makers were competing on price, focusing on getting an Intel XYZ and umpteen million giga whatsits into a box for a better price than their competitors. Raising the cost of the product by engineering and incorporating features that many buyers won't consider when comparing two lists of numerical specifications didn't seem a good idea to many manufacturers.
wow apple have found a way to transmit DC over inductive chargers? Now that IS a patent to hold! Does this involve switching the DC on and off very quickly? It must have some "cracking" capacitors.
I'm sure tesla patents show prior art anyway. Apples patents could only be used for the design rather than function.
"Other PC makers were competing on price, focusing on getting an Intel XYZ and umpteen million giga whatsits into a box for a better price than their competitors. Raising the cost of the product by engineering and incorporating features that many buyers won't consider when comparing two lists of numerical specifications didn't seem a good idea to many manufacturers."
Indeed - why waste money on R&D when Apple will do it for you and show you what you need to be copying next year.
Don't get an iPhone.
Whilst the rest of the smartphone market is standardising on micro USB, which is *very* convenient for the consumer, Apple persists with creating a non-standard interface which is all about control.
Is there anything wrong with this?
Not really, no, it's their choice. But it does seem like sheer bloody mindedness.
Back when the iPod was released, it wasn't an issue. The devices became so popular, most homes ended up with numerous iPod specific cables and devices. It's almost a certainty that if visiting friends, or at the office, someone will have a charging cable for your apple iPod or iPhone.
It became a standard because the iPod became (arguably) the best mp3 player available - and it's subsequently worked with all devices since.
You would think, in order to make devices slimmer, that Apple would simply join the micro USB party rather than create yet another propriety interface?
Time will tell - I suspect they will.
In the interim, there are a plethora of smartphones on the market that are currently far better than an iPhone 4s - the market has shifted radically.
I think a connector cable is the last thing Apple need to worry about, they need to concentrate on marketing the iPhone 5 within a reality distortion field and convince us that this new connector is the best damn connector ever and that they, in fact, have re-invented the connector. Over time, we will come to believe they invented the very first connector and that all other connectors are an inferior copy.
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There are several problems with microUSB, biggest one right now is it fails to deliver analog audio and video, which is what most docking accessories use. Having one cable for charging and another plugged to the 3.5" jack is a very messy solution, having to have a DAC everywhere is even worse.
It's also too limited to be a standard connector for both phones and tablets. Why have two different connectors across product lines?
Finally it's not future proof. microUSB3 already has a different, incompatible, plug! It's stupid!
What's needed is a standard connector with more than 5 pins. Power and USB lines would be standardised but there should be extra pins available for other uses.
It would be interesting if Apple released the new connector in the same way as they did for Mini-DisplayPort/Thunderbolt: a royalty-free license. I wonder if the rest of industry would pick it up..
Having a DAC everywhere does seem wasteful, I agree. However, it is convenient if you also have music on SD cards and USB thumbsticks. And DACs are already becoming ubiquitous; the car stereo obviously already has one, and so does anything that plays spinning discs or internet / DAB radio, not to mention your TV and wireless systems for transmitting audio to speakers.
I feel there might be room for a standard 'do everything digital+analogue super dock connector', certainly in the Android world. Samsung could donate its dock connector, or Google could take the lead, to give its licencees some of the easy docking convenience already available to Apple users.
Apple did develop and release FireWire, but it was mainly Intel who developed ThunderBolt- Apple did contribute the name, though!
Apple designed the Thunderbolt connector (and mini displayport) and gave it to VESA as a royalty-free standard that anyone can implement.
Would be cool if they did the same now with a new port, with USB3 and future proofed for at least Thundebolt. After all the Apple-backed royalty free nanoSIM standard just got into ETSI standards too...
Not sure how some of the more rabid haters would feel if they got an Apple-designed port on their Android phones though :-) That might be the hardest challenge but the current microUSB is running out of steam, they'll need to move to USB3 soon.
We shall see...
Well, I could see that, if Apple wants to change their connector to save space in their future devices, than they would want a more substantial gain than what micro-usb offers. The last connector lasted them 10+ years and this predictability has served them well. However you look at it, from a technical standpoint, going with micro usb is a step backward in flexibility. If they want the new one to last as long as the current connector, I can see why they would be reluctant to use micro-usb. Especially since not all iOS devices have bluetooth.
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And here's a photo of the microUSB 3 connector.
How will you plug this into existing microUSB connectors found on phones? I hope the answer is not "USB2 is good enough"...
So what, we're British... No, seriously, stupid standards have been mandatory for ages e.g:
* Once it was mandatory that all phones/modems had to be approved by the BABT (I proudly have several modems with the red, non-approved, sticker).
* Once it was a EU standard that all data telecoms be done over X.25 (if you don't know X.25, I suggest you leave it at that)
* EU cookie law (need I say more?)
* EU banning the selling of eggs by the dozen
Mandatory standards don't mean they're any good... and this one is more of a obstacle. Only a politician would figure that a connector with only 2 power + 2 signal lines would be enough for everybody!!!
>to look into the future you have to examine and forget the past
could be rephrased as
"To make new stuff, don't just repeat what is being done now [pretty obvious]. However, most things you are trying to achieve have been done before, so don't try to re-invent the wheel [again, pretty obvious]."
A bit of a bland truism, I agree, but hardly 'false'.
If that means you can make a useful power-connector by copying the latch of a lady's handbag, so be it.
Regardless of the fact that Apple is the only one to have had a standard connector for all of their devices for a decade, it's been in the same place for every single iPod, iPhone and iPad on the case. This means that my very very old iPod 30GB can share a docking station with my iPhone 4s. Even though the "competition" has standardised briefly on USB connectors, they are all over the place and regularly move between models which makes a proper dock with no wires impossible to make.
I play music via Bluetooth and Wifi on my Android phone. I have no need, nor do I want anything other than a MicroUSB for charging and data transfer.
Apple are just creating a new market to ensure accessory manufacturers can rape everyone again with proprietary connectors.
Apple is now surely the ONLY manufacturer doing their own thing.
My dad has bluetooth and IOS dock connectivity in his car.
For music and voice, one is plug and go while also charging his phone, the other means going through some (admitedly, ill designed) setup menu, and the phone still needs to be plugged into something to charge.
Which do you think he uses?
I sit in the car, it syncs in about 3 seconds. I havent set up anything since i bonded the phone. Car browses through music automatically. Car is a stock titanium mondeo, phone is SG2. I know iphones do the same (without menus or option pressing) as we have phone sync war when both of us sit in the car. sometimes the iphone syncs first sometimes the sg2.
"....as we have phone sync war when both of us sit in the car."
Some quality FAIL from Ford there. Parott solved this one years ago with their BlueTooth kits[1]. Multiple phones configured, but one is set as the preferred one, which takes precedence when two or more of its paired devices are detected.
Of course, this does mean that when I use the wife's car it often pairs with hers in the house rather than mine in the car, but a few yards up the road it sorts itself out. I just need to get round to updating the firmware[2] so the voice dialling works on Android[3], rather than just hanging as it does now.
[1] The yardstick by which such are measured.
[2] The other reason why Parott's products are a better approach than any manufacturer offers.
[3] Can't really blame Parott here. Android's voice dialling over BlueTooth is, without a doubt, the crappiest offering ever made in this area. Getting it to work at all took me back as it was highly reminiscent of getting ${obscure_hardware} working on ${early_linux_version}.
Why are you all whinging?
Assuming that Apple do update the connector -- and we won't know that until it's released -- then when one buys the new iPhone, there'll be a new cable with it that will still plug into USB for charging. OK, I may need a couple of spare cables, but my old cables will still be needed for the other iDevices.
Apple will still continue to use USB for charging; how else will it plug into the Mac for syncing? It's unlikely to be Thunderbolt (is that 5V too?), but most likely to be USB as it is available on all Macs & PCs.
As others have mentioned, our inscrutable Chinese friends will soon have all the compatible cables available at the normal counterfeit rates. Or you could just buy extras from Apple.
Icon for "storm in a teacup" please.
It's Apple, so you know two things:
1) it'll be proprietary.
2) it'll be sufficiently different from previous proprietary versions to force people to buy an entire suite of new accessories that work with the new kit.
They did this with the iPods - when they went to iPod touch they moved the phone jack 1mm closer in, which made any accessory that used both obsolete overnight. That's when I personally realized that Apple just didn't give a shit about its customers and stopped buying their products. I wasn't wrong.
I had two items.
My favourite was this necklace headset that used the 30 pin connector to lock in and hold the ipod, but plugged into the phono plug for the earplugs. The earplugs came out at the back of the neck and fit into the ears. SO much more convenient than having to deal with long cords, etc, and the earplugs stayed in my ear all the time. Haven't found anything even remotely as useful since. Tried to modify the thing for the new iPod, but it never really worked right after that as the main piece was a unibody plastic with embedded wiring. I vaguely recall it costing me a small fortune when I got it.
The other was a poorly designed pile of crap bedside thing that I don't miss nearly as much.
Overall it was the principle of the thing. There was no technical reason I could discern to move that phono plug just a little bit closer, other than to sell more accessories. Disassembling the new ipod shows that there was more than enough room to leave it where it was.
Thunderbolt? I'd like that! Though possibly still not enough to give up android.
Induction charging and bluetooth audio has to be the killer combo for on the go use - no cables required. Just as long as you don't need to go through half a dozen menus to configure it.
Also want: "pair and connect to closest bluetooth adapter," please.
To be fair, Apple are the ONLY device manufacturer that have really stuck to their guns in this area.
For how many years have we had the pleasure of a single, non-changing interface connector, while others have mucked about with USB, mini, micro, etc, etc?
If Apple do change it then fair enough. Odds are anything new we buy will be good for the next 5/6 generations of Apple device, so I for one will be happy.
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Why can't part of the connector be plain microUSB?
That is to say, have a microUSB connector, then a small gap, then whatever abomination Apple wants, all in one plug.
That way, they get a new dock connector, and everyone else can just ignore the cable and use microUSB.
Oh wait, that would be ACTUAL good design as opposed to purely aesthetic design: see: MagSafe 2, changing your stuff for no reason.
Apple wouldn't do that..
"Oh wait, that would be ACTUAL good design as opposed to purely aesthetic design: see: MagSafe 2, changing your stuff for no reason."
Let's see - A. Spend lots of money on R&D redesigning the entire product line based around the concept of it using a particular type of connector upon which you have no control and which might change in the next year or so anyway, rendering your product line obsolete.
Or B. Make a simple adapter and sell it cheap.
MagSafe2 changing something for 'no reason'..? As you are evidently ignorant of the facts, take a look at this image and explain how the old MagSafe could be made to fit into the new thinner case design:
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2012/06/magsafe-apple-adapters.jpg
That's not good design at all since the connector would end up being the same size as the existing 30 pin one. Pointless.
Look at how manufacturers did USB3 with the split microUSB connector you suggest. It's huge! Clearly the designers of the original microUSB never thought about USB3 and the future so they just hacked together a solution.
Apple has shown they don't have such short term thinking when it comes to connectors.
"Choice for manufacturers - cater for Apple's proprietary new connector, or start making devices which cater more for Android devices."
False dichotomy. Manufacturers have always had the option to make devices for Android, however the fragmentation of devices is most likely the reason they don't bother - hard to design for a moving target.
This is the typical fandroid or joe blog media reaction; "this change is only being made to make more company and making accessories obsolete!". Whoa? Hold on here, isn't the whole point of business is making money? Also, why would you want to keep a legacy port just for the sake of it when the main aim in the iPhone 5 would be to make the design thinner? The legacy 30-pin port would be the show stopper here, especially when you'd need to consider the internal framework to physically support the port making it thicker.
Anyway, the accessories aren't the be all and end all for the iPhone. It's primary focus is a phone, not a media player. That's is extended use. As long as Apple provide an adapter, then who's to complain?
"If they make all their old devices obsolete and their users are that upset about it, they could always vote with thier feet and buy something other than an iPhone the next go around."
Because as we all know, Android devices NEVER change do they? Every single one is EXACTLY THE SAME FORM FACTOR with the SAME interfaces, and SAME SOFTWARE.
As a result there are so many accessories specifically for Android aren't there!
Wow...I as much as tell you a post is just a trolling with the icon and you still jump all over it.
As far as Android accessories, I don't care. That's probably just me, but I have neither the need nor the desire for the type of accessories that the iPhone plugs into. The only accessories I have or want for my phone are chargers (which are pretty much universal for anything except an iPhone these days), headphones (which are universal) and a case (which isn't quite universal, but has fit three phones in a row so it's close enough). Any other accessories I would get are bluetooth, so they're universal. I might someday pick up a dock that with a microusb plug on it (which, shocker, will be universal). My point is that accessories made for a specific model of phone are pointless, regardless of which model that may be.
Introducing a new connector isn't necessarily evil if this brings certain benefits.
But locking this out with a chip at each side so nothing can be plugged into the thing without paying Apple a royalty? That most definitely is evil.
Of course, as with their walled garden of software, they'll claim they're acting like a dictator to protect everybody andno doubt the fanbois will all concur in unison like mindless drones as they stand in line with their man bags to buy more shiny tat they really don't need.
"Fury at Apple's 'rip-off' plan", "Every iPhone accessory you own is now obsolete."
So when you bought a device and accessories with old, proprietary 30-pin connector that made all your previous accessories (Fire-Wire was it?) obsolete - you didn't think anything was wrong, huh?
Sorry - no sympathy for Apple users in this case. I'm not even sure i'm mad at Apple - they're just milking their customer loyalty. It's the customers who keep buying Apple products...
"Sorry - no sympathy for Apple users in this case. I'm not even sure i'm mad at Apple - they're just milking their customer loyalty. It's the customers who keep buying Apple products..."
Do you *honestly* think that Apple sit down and say 'how can we piss people off today? I know - we'll change the iPhone connector just so we can sell all our accessories again! Ha ha haa! EVIL!'
...Seriously? No really - do you honestly think this?
And this contrasts to all Android device manufacturers who clearly all ensure that their devices all conform to the same chassis design and connectors so that every accessory works with every current device and future device forever do they?
If you already have an iPhone chances are you already have some charging equipment other than just the cable supplied with the phone. Not just chargers and docks but stereos etc.
You are going to think twice when thinking about an iPhone 5 as you effectively have to factor in the replacement costs for all of these as well as the cost of the phone itself.
Plus in our household my wife has a 3GS and has no intention of upgrading, it's very useful for us both to be able to use the same charging and syncing cables and docks, so if I get an iPhone 5 that all goes out of the window.
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