Kill the Lightening Connector
Colin here.
It is time to kill the proprietary, incompatible do-nothing Lightning cable on Apple’s iPhones.
This non-standard cable provides no benefits to the user. It’s a pain in the butt. It’s expensive. And, replacements are finicky. I can see no argument of why the Lightning cable was anything other than a bad idea designed to harm Apple’s customers.
Now is the perfect time to replace Lightning cables.
USB-C has been standardized and Apple was a leading member of the USB-C development team. Reports are that new computers designed by Apple depend highly upon USB-C. The USB-C cable has the advantages of Lightning (reversible, small, good feel.) And, technically, USB-C is faster and supports video all the way up to 5K displays. In short, USB-C is the perfect connector.
The Lightning cable has been a disservice to Apple customers. Providing absolutely no benefits it has made things incompatible and expensive. Being proprietary the cable is hard to buy on the road when you lose yours. They are needlessly expensive. And, I have found that they fail in a variety of ways ranging from refusing to charge quickly to fraying.
The USB-C cable is brilliant. I expect it to be a big winner. Let’s hope Apple quickly adopts it.