I’ve acquired beef with Apple’s irritating {hardware} transition

I bear in mind the notorious day in 2012 when Apple determined to throw a wrench on the charging world and convert all Apple loyalists to its “pick-me”

Lightning
cable. Despite the fact that “Lightning” sounds cool, it most undoubtedly was not a cool transfer by the tech large. It was supposedly within the identify of effectivity, however my intestine was fairly assured it was a monetary play (sigh).

I used to be nonetheless rocking my LG Cosmos Contact, so I wasn’t affected by such a dramatic shift. I acquired the iPhone 5s in 2013, and upgraded alongside the road of Lightning-supported iPhones since. However a number of weeks in the past, I lastly purchased the

iPhone 16 Pro
after 5 years of utilizing my trusty iPhone 12 Professional, and that got here with a number of

uncomfortable changes
, together with the EU-induced shift to a USB-C port.

I knew that may be essentially the most painful shift, however experiencing it for myself highlighted a number of issues that rubbed me the incorrect manner. So what did I do? Wrote all of them down, in fact. Apple, when you’re studying this, I’ve acquired a number of notes for you.

I should not have to search around for brand spanking new {hardware}

For a $1000 cellphone, it is ridiculous

Simply because I knew it was coming did not make it any simpler. The iPhone 16 Professional solely got here with the brand new USB-C cable — no block, no dongle, no USB-C-capable EarPods. I do know that Apple minimize out the charging block years in the past (and EarPods far sooner than that) for waste-reduction functions, however it might’ve been useful to have a charging block that went with the actual USB-C twine that got here with the cellphone. I spent at the least per week charging my cellphone from my MacBook Professional whereas I waited for an Apple-branded charging block to reach.

The identical factor went for my listening habits. In my very own cussed method, I refuse to put on Bluetooth headphones except I am on the gymnasium. If I am working, strolling, or listening to music on my commute, I exploit wired headphones — whether or not that is Apple’s EarPods (which I nonetheless assume have the perfect microphone) or my trusty discontinued Bose headphones. Because of Amazon’s quick transport, I solely needed to go someday with out listening to my music and night meditations, nevertheless it was nonetheless one other $25 plus taxes I needed to ship to the Apple overlords. It is not cool when dongles and EarPods are virtually pocket change to the corporate.

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You’ve got acquired your outfits deliberate out, so what about your tech?

Champagne issues, sure, but when I am paying over $1000 for a cellphone when all is alleged and performed, I should not must exit and spend $30+ on a block, dongle, and new headphones. Apple needs us to improve so badly, nevertheless it nonetheless needs us to pay the distinction within the adjustment.

Throw us a bone, Apple

At the least for the following couple of generations

It could be one factor if I went out years from now and acquired an iPhone 19, 18, and even 17 this fall — at that time, we might be years into the USB-C period, and it might be extra commonplace to come across these sorts of chargers and such. I would not have almost as a lot floor to complain on there. Nevertheless, Apple might’ve thrown us a bone for the primary couple of years and included these varied bits of {hardware} to make the transition only a bit simpler on the {hardware} entrance.

I bear in mind how annoying the problem was for my mates who upgraded to the iPhone 15 sequence when it got here out in 2023. It was painful watching the look in your greatest pal’s face when her cellphone was about to die at your own home earlier than an evening out and all you had readily available was a Lightning charging cable. It was even worse when the pal with the perfect playlist went to go plug into the aux within the automobile and their USB-C port was met with the soon-to-be “outdated” cable. Everybody suffered when our Spotify kings and queens have been stopped on the {hardware} gates of your automobile cable.

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Wanting on the years forward

The one manner out is thru, apparently

Realizing what the primary group of USB-C converts went by, I am retaining all my Lightning cables round for a number of extra years in case somebody involves my home (or automobile) with a pre-15 sequence iPhone. I want Apple had put just a little extra of its new branded {hardware} out into the world (particularly with the prevalence of corrupted third-party {hardware}) simply to make the transition just a little simpler.

Nevertheless, identical to the unique change to Lightning — which was way more annoying, I am certain — Apple customers are simply going to must get used to it. The EU backed the tech large right into a nook for a very good purpose, and so they needed to cave or else lose the European market. I am simply hoping that we have now at the least a decade earlier than Apple tries to tug one other pick-me {hardware} transfer on us once more.

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