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by dpark 3520 days ago
They seem happy to do this if they think there is value. I'm not sure what the value of USB-C is on the iPhone. The negatives are pretty obvious. The positive mostly seems to be that they can share cables with Android phones, which I cannot imagine is something execs at Apple care about.

Someone else raised an interesting point about docks. The lightning connection is designed to be strong enough to support a phone in a doc. I'm pretty sure this is not a design consideration for USB-C given how no one seems to care about Android docks.
2 comments
chimeracoder 3520 days ago
> I'm not sure what the value of USB-C is on the iPhone.

Ridiculously fast charging, plus the ability to use the same charger for both your laptop and your phone.

Being able to consolidate all the chargers I own is an unbelievably exciting promise. That's only an option for me because I use an Android phone.

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dpark 3520 days ago
> Ridiculously fast charging

How much faster are we talking? I haven't seen any numbers with this claim, nor any justification. There are fast charging systems on the market already with Micro-USB. Qualcomm says their quick-charge solution (used in the new Pixel phones) works with A, Micro, C and others.

https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon/quick-charge/fa...

> plus the ability to use the same charger for both your laptop and your phone.

I'm not sure that's really all that compelling. It's nice, but I don't think it's nearly as nice as, say, my dock working.

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ianburrell 3520 days ago
The Pixel doesn't use Qualcomm's proprietary QuickCharge but standard USB Power Delivery. It can negotiate charging at 9V, 2A (18W). Legacy USB can charge 5V, 2.4A (12W), and regular Type C can charge at 3A (15W). Scaling with power, 15W is 25% faster than USB and 18W is 50% faster. The higher voltage is supposed to charge empty batteries faster.

The iPad Pro seems to support quick charging with the Lightning to USB-C cable and MacBook 29W USB PD adapter. And charges about twice as fast (2.5 hr vs 5 hr).

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dpark 3520 days ago
My mistake. I was reading an article that claimed that the Pixel was using Qualcomm's tech.
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eridius 3520 days ago
I don't understand this argument. If I'm using my laptop charger, my phone can't use it at the same time. And if I'm not using my laptop charger, it's probably stowed in my bag, and it's a lot simpler to pull out my phone's charger than it is to pull out my laptop charger. So I'm having trouble imagining a scenario where I'd actually ever plug my phone into my laptop charger.
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wvenable 3520 days ago
You can hold your phone upside down connected to the lightning connector -- it's really quite impressive. USB connectors are much more fiddly.

The advantage of USB-C isn't so much in physical connection but the actual capabilities of the interface. Lightning isn't very powerful by comparison.

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dpark 3520 days ago
Holding your phone upside down isn't an interesting test. That's just the holding power of the plug. More interesting and relevant is whether you can hold the phone at an angle, which is what a dock does. This puts a lot of stress on both the connector and the phone's jack. I would expect Micro-USB to fall apart from this abuse. I'd don't know about USB-C but don't have high hopes.
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ianburrell 3520 days ago
USB Type C seems to be much sturdier than microUSB. The metal sleeve has tighter tolerance and larger area. Can easily hold phone upside down. Should be able to support phone by itself. Problem is more taking more force to remove from dock or cable.
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pritambaral 3520 days ago
> it's really quite impressive.

It is? I've been charging my Moto G for a few months like that.

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