[asgeir]

USB-C has the springs in the plug while the receptacle is only fixed contacts. Lightning on the other hand has the springs inside the receptacle.

This means that for USB-C you replace the cable when the springs wear out, but for Lightning you need to replace the port.

Cleaning lint out of a USB-C receptacle with a toothpick is safe, but sticking anything into a Lightning port could damage the springs.

[klausa]

On the flipside, this means the thin logic board that connects to the pins is in the host device, not in the cable.

Which means if you break it off, you need to replace the whole port, which might be difficult or expensive; instead of the (relatively) cheap cable.

I _love_ USB-C as a concept, but this alone makes, in my opinion, Lightning the superior physical connector.

And yes, I have had to replace / throw away entire devices because of a USB-C port breaking like this.

Sure, I should be less of a clumsy oaf around my electronics, but I also don't think "not bricking the entire device when extra force is applied to the port" is unreasonable design goal for a physical connector as universal as USB-C is.

[Lendal]

Anecdotal evidence: I have had to replace a device because of a failed USB-C port, but I have never had to replace a device because of a failed Lightning port. I know, it's one data point, but there it is.

[bee_rider]

Was it on a Macbook? I think there could be some confounding factors if not -- there exist bottom of the barrel laptop manufacturers who'll somehow figure out a shitty way to implement a USB-C port. There doesn't exist a bottom of the barrel iPhone manufacturer. Apple does a good job of making sure all their components are mid-tier at least, I think. Maybe we could compare to third party lightning ports but they tend to be pretty rare.

[meatmanek]

The 2016 and 2017 MBPs had garbage USB-C ports which wore out their detents after like 10 insertions. The charge cable (or worse, data cable for an external hard drive) would fall out or lose connectivity with the slightest shift in position.

[cal85]

Interesting about the springs, I didn’t know that. In practice though, the opposite to everything you say seems to be true based on using many (many) of both connectors over the years. I’ve had a couple of disasters with USB-C ports breaking (on the device, not the cable), while I’ve never had anything go permanently wrong with Lightning sockets. Your point that it has delicate springs inside it sounds concerning but seems to be totally theoretical - you can see customer service staff in Apple stores frequently just whip out a SIM key or paperclip and waggle it about in a customer’s iPhone to clean it with total abandon. And I’ve always done this with mine, treating it very rough with metal paperclips, I’ve never worried about hurting the springs. And it has never, ever gone wrong for me. The evidence seems to be that Lightning is just much more resilient.

You say that cleaning out a USB-C port is safe, but I know it’s not, because of that little snap-off wafer inside, which has broken on me twice before. It’s not safe, I promise. Don’t do it unless you have a good warranty!

[asgeir]

To be clear. I think that both connectors have their own problems.

Just because I've not had the center nub break in any of my USB-C devices that doesn't mean it's not a problem for someone else.

Similarly, I've had the springs in a Lightning port give out so that no cable worked and the port needed replacing.

I still think that having the springs in the cable connector is a more durable design but the USB-C center nub is probably too thin.

(edit) Here is the chief FireWire architect talking about the same design rationale for the FW400 connector http://www.johasteener.com/what-is-firewire.html#Why_the_4-p...

[yoz-y]

> Cleaning lint out of a USB-C receptacle with a toothpick is safe, but sticking anything into a Lightning port could damage the springs.

Safe-ish because you can break off the inner plastic part. On USB-A this was a pretty common failure for me. On USB-C not yet

[emaro]

Thank you for the clarification. I didn't know that.

In my experience, cleaning the lightning port with the end of a paperclip was never an issue (dust from my pocket liked the spot; always helped when charging got unreliable).