HACKER Q&A
📣 behnamoh

Forcing Apple to use USB-C is wrong. They must open up Lightning. Agree?


Am I the only one who doesn't like USB-C? It has major flaws (just google it). Not to mention its design structure which looks to be a recipe for port damage if you plug it at an angle. Also, there's a reason we have very few USB hubs with USB C INPUT and multiple USB C OUTPUTS.

I think the more rational thing to do is to force Apple to open up their Lightning and let other manufacturers convert from USB A/C to Lightning. It feels more sturdy, durable, and doesn't have some of the major flaws that USB C has.

  👤 paulrpotts Accepted Answer ✓
I don't like USB C. Just recently I bought a couple of dual-ported flash drives that fail dangerously on my new MacBook Air M2. When connected via the USB C port they get extremely hot, almost hot enough to burn my hand, and they somehow lock up the Finder and several other apps. Oddly, they work fine on an Intel NUC mini-PC I have running Windows. Fortunately they don't seem to have done any permanent hardware damage to my machine. Is this a driver bug or something? Who knows? But I don't trust USB C, especially with its high-current charging nightmarish mess of standards. Do I have to use it sometimes? Absolutely, but I'd prefer not to, and I try not to use it for charging or high current needs.

Personally I like Lightning. I've never had a Lightning cable fail unless a baby chewed on it. I like the way they snap securely into the sockets. I like that they DON'T support high current. I think the idea of getting other vendors to adopt it is very unlikely, but I'd be fine with Apple continuing to support lightning for phones and tables indefinitely. It would mean I could avoid replacing a few hundred dollars worth of cables and adapters.

This article comes at it from the perspective of the Android ecosystem but it's not wrong. https://www.androidauthority.com/state-of-usb-c-870996/

👤 supriyo-biswas
On that note, Apple is reportedly planning to limit iPhone 15's USB-C port to Lightning like capabilities[1] (HN discussion[2]).

[1] https://www.macrumors.com/2023/02/10/apple-planning-to-limit... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34774369

👤 nabla9
Lightning is outdated and obsolete. Maximum transfer speed is not up to date.

  MB/s | 
  --------------
     53 Lightning             
     53 USB 2.0

    640 USB 3.0
   1200 USB 3.0 Gen 2
   1200 Thunderbolt
The physical connector was clearly the best 10 years ago, but in today's standards it's very similar to USB-C.

Apple uses Lighting to force users to wireless.

👤 jamesliudotcc
Disagree. Even with the flaws.

Like it or not, USB-C is the new de facto standard. Even if Lightning were opened up, who else would use it? Current generation electronics of all sorts (laptops, phones, headphones, cameras, bike lights) are designed for usb-c charging. Old ones still have micro because they are amortizing down the equipment for making the port, and because everyone knows everyone has micro cables lying around. Even Apple households surely have USB-C lying around, so given the choice, why would any manufacturer choose Lightning for a net new product?

👤 LinuxBender
I have not used Apple products in a while so perhaps my comment has less value but I would prefer all devices use the same standard and ideally use the same connector. Today that appears to be the USB-C connector using USB 3.0 gen 2 spec. I can only hope that only the USB version evolves and not the connector so that if a friend needs a cable or I buy a new device I have the right cables.

In my opinion people with legacy devices should use a dongle or hub to adapt from Lightning and others to USB-C/3.2.

👤 lolc
To reach parity with how useful USB-C is to me today, notebooks would have to switch away to Lightning. Yeah not going to happen.
👤 mattl
What are the major flaws? I don’t know what you’re searching for.
👤 emocin
Disagree