And in those 11 years, people have collected a lot of Lightning cables.
They have them in their cars, hallway charging stations, and bedside tables.
They might have a frayed, cracking cable in every purse.
Mishaal Zahed / Unsplash
Users eventually got used to the Lightning port’s faster data transfer and greater flexibility in the ecosystem.
But as we shall see, this time is quite different.
Back then, it was obvious that the Lightning connector was far superior to the dock connector it replaced.
Marcus Urbenz / Unsplash
And yet, still, people groused.
It was a money grab from Apple, they said.
A corporate cash grab orchestrated only to juice sales.
Steve Johnson / Unsplash
The dock connector had become universal and was even found installed in hotel-room alarm clocks.
This time around, the world is a very different place.
For starters, USB-C is not a brand-new proprietary connector from Apple.
It’s a standard that is already widely known.
USB-C is not really superior to the Lightning connector it’s replacingunlike the dock-connector-to-Lightning transition.
It’s hard to see how you benefit from the switch.
That’s a huge installed base of Lightning cables.
In reality, this is a great change for users.
The USB-C port is a standard that will probably be around for a long time to come.
And USB-C has one other big advantage.
Manufacturers don’t have to pay Apple to use it.
I can’t wait.
