[leadingthenet]

Lighting is way better than micro-USB, and somewhat better than even USB-C, which, as you correctly mentioned, was released years after its debut.

So that’s their “excuse”, and I’m glad for it every time I have to interact with a micro-USB cable.

[sk0g]

And what would these benefits of lightning vs USB C be, aside from being endorsed and embedded in the Apple ecosystem?

[robin_reala]

At this point not that much. It’s slightly smaller, and most iPhone users already have a pile of lightning cables. It’s also nice to be able to charge your low-end iPad / Airpods / Apple mice and keyboards from the same cable. Historically there were a load of speaker docks that had a fixed lightning plug, but that’s mostly a dead market segment at this point.

[leadingthenet]

I note how you didn’t ask about micro-USB, because you know it to be inferior.

Well, first of all, lighting predates usb-c by a few years, so it’s an advantage that we thankfully haven’t had to endure micro-USB in that time.

Then, lightning is a male connector which makes it more robust, compared to the female connector in USB-C. I’ve had multiple USB-C cables break when inserted a bit too aggressively, which has not ever happened in my years of using lightning.

There just isn’t a “wrong way to hold” the lightning connector, which isn’t quite the case with USB-C, in my experience.

[janekm]

Well... I have an iPhone7 with an unreliable worn-out Lightning port sitting next to me, so I can kind of see the value in having the cable wear out rather than the socket in the phone...

[2muchcoffeeman]

Try cleaning it. I’ve had dust accumulate in a lightning port making it unreliable. I thought the port had failed for the longest time but it was just dust.

And I don’t think lightning cables wearing out has anything to do with the standard and everything to do with Apples poor lightning cables.

I also can’t see how people think USBC is more robust. There is a tiny little wafer in the port... I get nervous just looking at it. At least with a lightning port it’s large enough to get something in there and clean it out. USBC just looks so delicate.

[leadingthenet]

You’ve put it into words way better than I have.

God forbid people acknowledge Apple’s proprietary design is better...

[sk0g]

Astute observation. Yes, I'm asking you to explain why the 2012 connector is better than the 2014 one, because that's the one I have doubts about, as opposed to the obsolete 2007 one.

Would you rather break a $10 cable or a $800 phone? I'd much rather the cable, though you seem to have different priorities to me.

The last point is referring to the cable tip? That's more to do with individual cable design than anything else.

So, it's not really better in any way, except for being on Apple devices, gotcha.

[TulliusCicero]

I have the opposite problem. None of my USB-C cables ever seem to break, whereas a whole bunch of lightning cables of ours have broke, either fully or partially (partially being when one side works because of pressure or something).

[vertex-four]

My lightning cables break at least twice a year, and my iPhone 6S has a worn-out port - worst of both worlds. :(

[smileypete]

USB-C has the spring contacts inside the easily replaced cable, whereas lightning has the spring contacts inside the not-so-easily fixed phone.

So all else equal, USB-C is objectively the better design.