History of the iPhone Charging Port - Why Apple changed it!

With the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro, Apple is officially switching from Lightning to USB-C, 11 years after they switched from the 30-pin connector with the iPhone 5. Today, we look at the history of the iPhone charging port!

0:00 - Introduction
2:20 - 30-Pin Connector
7:14 - Lightning Port
12:50 - Rise of USB-C
17:06 - Reduced iPhone Packaging
20:24 - USB-C on iPhone
25:17 - We Can't Ship Junk

Music:

[Tech]

Consider this comment the official petition for Apple to bring back the 30-pin connector (I want to use my old docking station from 2010 again)

[timtim]

I liked Lightning at the time. It felt like a port for the future: fast (at the time), reversible plug, and a secure and tactile fit without the meat hooks USB Micro B had.
USB-C just outpaces Lightning at every turn now, aside from the tactile fit which still feels really nice.

[nelsn]

Came into this video wanting to know the history of how we went from the 30-pin to USB-C and ended up watching your most critical video about Apple on your channel to date. Plenty of big tech YouTubers wouldn’t dare to make a video criticizing Apple (unless you’re Linus whose audience aren’t going to buy a Mac or Apple products in the first place). Maybe you could team up with Zackary Smigel regarding Apple & their business practices.

[zerokunai]

I'll save yall some time, it's cause of the EU

[nelsn]

3:40 what shocked me the most was that there was a battery pack for the iPod that used 4 AA batteries. How did I miss out on that accessory?!?! 😱

[denisruskin]

I love how Apple justified not giving the brick with the 12 iPhone series by saying: ''we all have the bricks we can already use''
And yet, the ONLY people that had fast charging were 11 Pro owners and people that had to buy the brick separately. Thus the vast majority of people were still on, even ancient by then, 5W meme of a charger.

[Z_place_holder]

I think apple learned their lesson from the first port transition. As you mentioned, apple introduced lightning as an entirely new connector that no one had at the time. Their old accessories and chargers wouldn’t work. With usb-c, apple rolled that in with the MacBook Air (2015), which did not make up a major portion of their sales. Manufacturers started making usb c accessories and then the industry followed suit on phones/accessories. Now the pain point is that apple should have transitioned the iPhone port a few years ago, rather than users complaining that they didn’t have usbc cords to use with their phones. Everything new has usb c, so users are integrating with an existing environment.

[ivahos]

You forgot the fact that lightning actually did support usb3 (5Gbit). When the 2017 iPad pro came out it had lightning but it did connect at 5Gbit. This was with a stock lightning cable. It was however the only device that did support 5Gbit over lightning that I know of. The way you could tell hardwarevice was that when you looked into the female lightning connector on the iPad you would see connection strips on both sides of the plug. All other devices had only connection strips on one side.

[buever]

let’s be real the 15 really feels like a (s) version besides the usb c
and it’s really reminding me when the iphone 6s got released
better camera
same design
more durable material

[thepopmanbrad]

As an Apple user, I was thrilled about the USB Type-C when I upgraded to the iPhone 15 Pro from an iPhone 11. Growing up, I faced so many issues with different ports. I owned a 2G, 3G, and a 4S, while my friends had newer models like the 5 and 6. My family wouldn't let me have a "good phone" in case it got stolen, which I understand. But it was frustrating needing to charge my phone and finding out nobody had the 40-pin connectors. When I got a phone with Lightning, nobody seemed to have one, except my friends who had already moved on to USB Type-C. I remember classes full of students arguing and trying to borrow a USB-C or a Lightning cable. Now that iPhones finally have USB Type-C, I'm excited, but then I realized I don't need to be. I'm not in school anymore; I don't have the constant struggle with friends over who has the right charger. Instead, I have my own charger that I always keep around my house.

[SirChristoferus]

USB-C is looking very promising for a universal data/charging platform. It can stream high resolution movies to a home theater, it can store massive amounts of data in a small thumb drive, it can power an entire extension hub with every port in use, and so on.

[ARBUZIK.dudkin]

Fun fact: apple originally planned to have type c for the iPhone 5 and they supported development but because it took them too long to develop type c apple decided to make their own cable to meet the deadlines for iPhone 5 launch

[snetzgaming]

lol the 2023 one isn’t even a brand new cable you could probably use a usb-c cable that is used for a android for the new iPhones!

[_Mr.Tuvok_]

I’ll never forget the iPad 3rd gen to 4th gen update. I had JUST bought a 3rd gen literally 3 weeks before they announced the 4.

I. Was. Pissed.

[ego-lay_atman-bay]

My mom was actually very excited when I told my mom about the iphone 15 had usb c. Unfortunately she doesn't buy phones, she usually just get cheap phones from people who give them away when they upgrade, in fact, the newest phone she has ever had was the iphone x (before it was an old iphone, I'm pretty sure it was on ios 12).

Personally I'm an android user, but the only phones I've had were the galaxy s7, and the pixel 6a. When I got my 6a, I had to get a churching block as well as an audio adapter because it was the first device that anyone in my family has had that requires a good cord, not a cheap usb c cord, although I have no idea if it was the block or the cord, because I could charge it with my portable battery with my cheap usb c cord, or with my computer.

[Slurkz]

Love the video 💜 but please keep your breathing spaces in when editing your next video.
It will make for a much less tiring and more comprehensible story.

[rafaelclaycon]

I think it’s a combination of your voice, tone, inflection, well researched videos and text that make me love your long form videos. Please keep them coming!!

[Thex-W.I.T.C.H.-xMaster]

My s23 Ultra is laughing at this... 😂😂😂

[GTW-efyx]

Watching this while setting up my New iphone 15 Pro max. Well done!

[thedeutschman]

While this change will cause some headache right now, this is just a short term inconvenience. We’ll be way better off in the long run with this change.