[nonane]

How is this a problem for most users? When was the last time someone actually plugged in an iPhone to a computer to sync data? Most syncing happens over wifi for most users (90%+ I would say). Even development happens over wifi now.

[NovemberWhiskey]

I agree with the principle here, if not necessarily the tone ... I don't think I've used an iPhone cable to do anything other than a) charge or b) use CarPlay for probably 10 years at least.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that providing a "real" USB 3 cable for charging would not give most users what they want.

I have two USB-C cables plugged into the MacBook Pro on the desk I'm using right now. One does USB PD and also provides monitor connectivity - that's obviously a "full fat" Thunderbolt cable. The other is a Lightning cable that I need occasionally to charge my keyboard/trackpad.

The Thunderbolt cable would be a terrible phone cable. It is thick, bulky and does not want to bend - mostly because it's designed to have good signal integrity at 10Gb/s+.

[bluescrn]

Probably more an annoyance for developers repeatedly deploying large games/apps

[uxp100]

Probably worth it to buy a cable then. It is irritating that USB cables don’t have some markings to indicate capability.

[dvtkrlbs]

Doesn’t that also happen wirelessly

[hanche]

In my experience, syncing my iphone over wifi doesn’t really work. It will start fine, then lose the connection before it’s finished. Perhaps my old (2010) airport extreme is not up to the task? But in any case, I just use the cable instead, no problem.

[layer8]

USB 3 is faster and more reliable than Wifi.

[fweimer]

And USB 2.0 tops out at about 200 GiB per hour. It's not actually slow.

[layer8]

The maximum net transfer rate is around 43 MB/s in practice. That’s more like 150 GB/h. Not very convenient for backing up an iPhone. With current storage sizes, it could take multiple hours.