Apple By Ryan Whitwam Aug. 15, 2014 5:15 pm
Apple is not known for adopting industry wide standards if it can avoid doing so. Cupertino’s iDevices used the clunky 30-pin connector for years, then switched not to USB, but to another proprietary option–the Lightning connector. A series of leaked pictures purport to show something both strange and potentially wonderful that could be coming with an Apple device soon. This appears to be a new Lightning cable that has a reversible USB 3.0 connector.
One of the main benefits cited by Apple when it moved to the Lightning cable was that it’s reversible. For all the issues with moving to a completely new cable, the reversible thing is a pretty big deal for usability. People have been complaining about USB’s one-way rectangular cable for years, but we’re finally getting a resolution with the newly approved USB 3.1 spec.
These cables reportedly come from Apple’s Chinese hardware manufacturing partner Foxconn, which is the source for most leaks of Apple products thee days. The cables appear to be full-size rectangular plugs, not the new Type-C reversible connector. However, instead of having the contacts shifted to one side of the housing like the current USB cables, these ones have it running down the center. That could allow contacts on either side of the reversible connector to make the connection when it’s plugged in.
This might be a clever stopgap solution until we know how quickly the USB 3.1 Type-C standard takes off. Because the plug is a different shape this time, it won’t be backwards compatible with older hardware. There will be adapters, but everyone has all these rectangular USB ports on PCs and other devices. Perhaps Apple will produce a Lightning cable that uses the standard 3.1 connector at some point–it did accept USB as a fact of life after Firewire failed to catch on. Even if these pictures don’t depict Apple cables, it would be nice if someone would make them.
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One of the main benefits cited by Apple when it moved to the Lightning cable was that it’s reversible. For all the issues with moving to a completely new cable, the reversible thing is a pretty big deal for usability. People have been complaining about USB’s one-way rectangular cable for years, but we’re finally getting a resolution with the newly approved USB 3.1 spec.
These cables reportedly come from Apple’s Chinese hardware manufacturing partner Foxconn, which is the source for most leaks of Apple products thee days. The cables appear to be full-size rectangular plugs, not the new Type-C reversible connector. However, instead of having the contacts shifted to one side of the housing like the current USB cables, these ones have it running down the center. That could allow contacts on either side of the reversible connector to make the connection when it’s plugged in.
This might be a clever stopgap solution until we know how quickly the USB 3.1 Type-C standard takes off. Because the plug is a different shape this time, it won’t be backwards compatible with older hardware. There will be adapters, but everyone has all these rectangular USB ports on PCs and other devices. Perhaps Apple will produce a Lightning cable that uses the standard 3.1 connector at some point–it did accept USB as a fact of life after Firewire failed to catch on. Even if these pictures don’t depict Apple cables, it would be nice if someone would make them.
More...
