[alwillis]

I kind of feel they'd rather people feel pressured to need a Mac with Airdrop or an iCloud subscription to get photos/videos off in timely manner

No.

Anyone who’s worked closely with Apple knows this isn’t how Apple operates.

If you separate out some of the literary flourishes, the article tells you how Apple ended up in this situation.

Besides, using a Mac and AirDrop with or without iCloud doesn’t solve the fundamental issue of getting tens or hundreds of gigabytes of video off a iPhone 13 efficiently.

We see this all the time that different parts of the company are on different schedules. The $329 entry level iPad has some features the mainstream $599 iPad Air doesn’t have, like Center Stage. That will get corrected this spring but it certainly caused some head scratching during the holiday shopping season.

Apple knows they need to solve this for pro users and it’s kind of embarrassing—hence the tone of the article—they haven’t yet.

[salamandersauce]

It isn't? I've never worked with Apple but they are pretty happy to cripple 3rd party smart watches to make their own look better. Or how big of frustrating mess it is to move data on/off an iOS device with iTunes vs. using iCloud. I've had a few friends get frustrated at moving tens of gigs of photos off an iPhone using USB and just give up and get iCloud to do it. It was already a problem for years for consumers even.

I really don't see how the article explains how Apple ended up in this situation. Rene seems to have completely forgotten or missed that iPad Pros with lightning were already capable of USB 3 speeds back in 2015. Over 6 years ago. There is NO need for a different connector, just a better controller. And yet they keep not doing it.