iPhone 15’s shift to USB-C

Related ongoing thread:<p><i>iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus</i> - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=37485290">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=37485290</a>

Apple would cannibalize their computer and iPad sales if they were supporting the thin client model like Samsung DeX. See how they already avoid cannibalization of the iPhone business by preventing the iPad to make phone calls. They protect their product lines from each other.<p>As much as I like to see such a feature, I don’t think Apple will ever give it to us.

How does the author make the logical leap from &quot;it&#x27;ll use Type C&quot; to &quot;it&#x27;ll have Samsung DeX equivalent&quot;?<p>I think it&#x27;s too much of a gimmick for Apple to even try, plus Apple is really not known for giving a damn about making their products work well with third-party peripherals.

If Apple wanted to make the iPhone a computer replacement, and all that was holding them back was USB-C, they would have added it in a long time ago.<p>They didn’t. They waited until the EU made them switch to USB-C.

It also has the potential to be quite confusing.<p>There will almost certainly be some laptops that attempt to charge themselves from the iPhone battery depending on which of the 10 versions of USB-C are being implemented.<p>Will all the counterfeit usb-c cables also cause a bunch of confusion when features don’t work?<p>Will plugging in your phone at the airport be less of a risk?

B.S. If this was going to happen, why didn&#x27;t it already happen a decade+ ago on the overwhelming-dominant mobile platform, Android? Especially given that the technology existed in a complete, commercially-available consumer platform no later than 2011? <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cnet.com&#x2F;reviews&#x2F;motorola-laptop-dock-review&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cnet.com&#x2F;reviews&#x2F;motorola-laptop-dock-review&#x2F;</a>

Illogical association of ideas. It will be an iPhone with the USB-C connector to charge it. Stop.

The forced shift to USB-C is indisputably a win for consumers. Well done EU.<p>The strangest thing has been all the people whining and claiming this stifles innovation. It doesn&#x27;t.

&gt; The idea of a pocketable thin client model of computing where you basically take your PC with you wherever you go, and plug it into accessories including displays and input devices that can work with any wherever you need, has been around for a long time. But an iPhone 15 sporting a full-featured USB-C port with the capabilities of the latest Thunderbolt spec has no technical barriers toward making it actually happen.<p>So in theory someone can make an iPad sized touchscreen that connects to your iPhone via USB-C and you&#x27;d have no need for an iPad? Or course such a screen could be shared within a household, etc.<p>Desktop in my pocket would be fan-fn-tastic, obviously. But even a simple larger (than my phone) touchscreen would be a handy step forward.

I have been covering similar features for 10 years now. While everyone somehow cheers hard about them on paper, in practice their usage is non-existent. Convergence is not gonna happen, users do not seem interested at all in this type of crossover use-case. Samsung and Motorola’s solution have been around for a while and they’re a testament to that. Lenovo now has even a feature that lets you have access to a Windows 11 Cloud PC via ThinkPhone if you’re a business or corporate user. The use case scenario is there, but apparently it’s just not as compelling to actual users as it seems made out to be. That’s why Apple is not gonna allow anything like that to happen on an iPhone.

Odd, because Apples already implemented a thin client on iPhones, it’s called CarPlay. It can work over usb or Wi-Fi.<p>Otherwise I don’t see apple ever allowing a device to be a one stop. If they were going for that then it obsoletes stuff like handoff and universal control.<p>But really, why do people actually want this? If you’re using your phone for work then it’ll probably have to be domain joined. Then at that point your employer has eyes into the one device you use for everything

Apple will take the approach theorized here when it can be done wirelessly. Bring your phone close to a &quot;Magic Monitor&quot; and the desktop experience starts instantly.<p>The change of plug shape is irrelevant to whether this paradigm shift happens inside Apple, but Apple is better positioned than any other device maker to accomplish it if they focused on it.

&gt;An iPhone that’s able to project something more like iPadOS (or, ideally, but not definitely wishful thinking on my part — macOS) when connected to a screen could easily replace a laptop for probably a significant portion of the population, including for casual computing, and for the work tasks of the bulk of the knowledge workforce.<p>No, it wouldn&#x27;t, because you&#x27;d need a display and input device(s) at your destination. So then we ended up with these laptop-style shells for Android and Windows Phone devices that supported this model and suddenly you can&#x27;t use your phone separately while you&#x27;re in laptop mode. It&#x27;s easier to just bring a laptop&#x2F;Chromebook with you.<p>There&#x27;s no need for the device&#x27;s local storage when you&#x27;re already syncing important documents to the cloud anyway. This is a &quot;cool&quot; solution in search of a problem.

As a computer enthusiast I don’t want a desktop in my pocket. I want big heavy rigs, that simply <i>have</i> to be big to do the kind of computing I want to do. I’m not looking for a thin client.

I believe that with the iPhone 15 adopting USB-C, it will pave the way for a more streamlined integration of USB-C power adapters across almost all electronic categories. The shift towards USB-C as the go-to power and data connector for a plethora of electronic devices has been on the rise in recent years.<p>We will have one cable for so many things. Finally....

Why on Earth would you make a phone out of Titanium?<p>I mean, yes, hard, shiny, expensive... but just seems so wasteful.

I hope the EU presses Apple to adopt other standards as well. (e.g., file format. It&#x27;s ridiculous that you can&#x27;t just drag and drop a picture from your photos library as a Gmail attachment because the format would be HEIC).

Looking forward to throwing away all my lightning cables &#x2F;sarcasm

Why does this read like an Onion article?

Finally, less charging cables to carry while traveling.

And help the environment!

I think the USB-C cable will make little to no difference for the majority of Apple users out there. I hate how the EU has coerced Apple to make this change.