We say goodbye to Lightning in the iPhone and all Apple gadgets. Will you be bored?

Today is Monday and the first day of the last week in the life of Lightning.

September 12, the same day with the presentation of the iPhone 15, he will be 11 years old. And that is where his story ends. The iPhone 15 of all models is rumored to feature a USB-C port for the first time. The AirPods Pro case will also be updated. Among the Apple products on the “lightning” it turned out that AirPods Max, AirPods 3 and AirPods 2 with the old connector – but this issue is likely to be resolved next year.

I think we can start commemorate.

When Lightning Appeared

Photos from our iPhone 5 review, 2012.

The first carriers of Lightning were the iPhone 5, iPod Touch 5 and iPad 4. Then all Apple gadgets came out only with this port, and over the next 12 months the 30-pin connector fell into oblivion, not least due to the popularity of these devices and their support.

Absolutely everyone liked the port: the opportunity to give him any step was a warm welcome for absolutely everyone. And so it is necessary to purchase a bunch of new accessories and appliances that no one (expectedly) liked.

SONY DSK

Photos from the review of the iPod touch 5 and its simplified version, 2012-2013.

I remember well how difficult it was for the people and the industry to switch from a 30-pin connector to Lightning. The previous port, dating back to the popularization of the iPod, spawned hundreds of brands and thousands of accessories that are now either partially or completely incompatible with the new standard. But somehow they survived. And we’ll survive it.

Moreover, the situation this time is very different – because instead of another closed standard, Apple is forced to massively use a common standard.

Lawmakers Beat Apple, But Not Quite

It was the long-term pressure from the European Union, as well as a number of other countries, that led to the final and irreversible poisoning of the Lightning port from all Apple devices. The company pulled this issue to the last, but eventually gave up.

In this story, one fact is curious, which many did not remember or did not know initially. The fact is that the USB-C standard itself was developed with the direct participation of Apple. Part USB Implementation Forum (USB Developer Forum), Apple, together with Intel, have made a great contribution to the creation of technical documentation, engineering and preparation of standards for entering the market.

Yes, the same port that is now found in most laptops, smartphones and accessories was originally invented by Apple, albeit not alone. This was argued (Apple’s opponents – especially aggressively) in 2015. The point in this story was put a little later, with the publication of the corresponding patent in 2013.

Apple patent for the technical documentation of the connector converted to USB-C.

However, USB-C is not owned by Apple. Rumor has it that the company wanted the port to become mainstream rather than just another niche or closed standard, and thus left its development in the hands of the USB Implementation Forum itself and partners. What it led to, we all know … But the beginning was rosy.

Apple still became the first company in the world to bring USB-C to a truly mainstream product, the 12-inch MacBook in 2016. We will not consider the useless Nokia tablet and the disastrous Leeco as a “mass product”. Today, USB-C is on almost all new devices, and only the iPhone and AirPods were practically empty.

Time to stock up on USB-C cables

From what we already know about USB-C in the new iPhone, it is already clear that you can transfer data and charge new iPhones with absolutely any cord with a USB-C plug. But how many do you personally have?

Personally, I counted the output number of different “lightnings” at home and realized that there are ten times more of them than USB-C readings. So I placed several orders. Including I immediately took an adapter from Lightning to USB-C – even if the cables from old iPhones are already included in the system, not only with the iPhone 15, but also with other devices – all the same, their time is running out in a hurry.

Otherwise, and in general, I am very pleased that in a year and a half or two, one cable in total will be enough for all small modern devices, from Mac and AirPods to iPhone and Android smartphones. Now the main thing is that Apple does not come up with another “modern and revolutionary” closed standard to spite everyone. So we look to the future with a smile, but look askance at the quick return of MagSafe. And then the blow can occur anywhere, from where they were not expected.