According to industry insiders, the iPhone 15 series may have been confirmed to use the USB-C interface, but Apple is not planning to obediently replace this interface, but insteadIt is planned to continue to use the MFi certification on the Lightning interface, and continue to implement exclusivity to earn certification fees.
According to the news, Apple has developed a Lightning & Type-C interface IC, which will be used in the iPhone 15 models and MFi certified products to be released this year.
However, the source added,This approach is most likely to make the new phone and new peripherals compatible with previous devices and iPhones, not just to restrict the new phone from using MFi devices.
However, the USB-C interface currently used by Apple does not have mandatory MFi certification, and it is not clear whether Apple will make changes to the old devices in the future.
As we all know, Apple has always used the Lightning interface, but with the development of charging technology, Apple is slowly replacing this technology. At present, many devices have transitioned to the Type-C interface, such as the MacBook currently on sale. series, iPad series and Studio Display etc.
Apple will fully update the iPhone 15 to the USB-C interface. One of the reasons is that it is expected that by 2024, all portable electronic device charging ports in the EU region will be unified as the Type-C interface.The mainstream models of domestic mobile phone manufacturers have switched to the Type-C interface, and will unify the domestic fast charging standard in the future.
The absolute advantages of Type-C are obvious, such as supporting fast charging power up to 100W,Moreover, there are many compatible protocols, and the transfer rate can reach up to 40GB/s.
However, Apple’s Lightning technology is outdated, with high latency, unbearable charging speed, and poor compatibility, because only Apple devices have this interface, and you need to buy a docking station to achieve more functions.
Judging from the current evaluation of the iPhone 14 series models, the iPhone 14 equipped with the Lightning interface only has a USB2.0 rate, which also means that the maximum transmission speed is only 480Mbps.
It will take a long time for photographers to transfer full-resolution 48-megapixel ProRAW photos to a Mac or other device using a Lightning cable.In particular, the iPhone 14 Pro series supports shooting 48-megapixel ProRAW photos, and the size of a photo is as high as nearly 100 megabytes.
This poses a huge challenge to the physical transmission of the interface. Apple recommends using iCloud to view ProRAW on a Mac or other Apple devices, or use AirDrop wireless transmission to send photos to other devices, but Lightning is still a bottleneck anyway. .
At the same time, Apple’s official data cable is as high as 145 yuan a piece, and now for the so-called environmental protection, the included charger has been canceled, and the price of the charger is also as high as 149 yuan, which has brought high profits to Apple.
The point is that Apple’s data cables are notoriously easy to break, and they will be damaged if they are not used properly, so users can only choose to buy original data cables on the official website or use third-party Lightning data cables.
If third-party manufacturers want to manufacture Lightning data cables and obtain official certification, they need to be authorized by MFI, andImplanted with Apple’s special chip, the price of the chip is 2 US dollars, in addition to paying patent fees to Apple.
According to this service, Apple can earn more than one billion US dollars in additional revenue every year. Compared with environmental protection, these profits are real benefits.
Although whistleblowers claim that Apple introduced MFi certification in the USB-C interface to be compatible with previous devices and mobile phones, it is too absolute to say that it has nothing to do with the benefits of MFi certification.
After all, the full shift to the USB-C interface is bound to affect Apple’s revenue in accessory certification, so it is not so surprising that Apple will adopt MFi certification in the USB-C interface.
However, the Apple USB-C interface that adopts MFi certification will inevitably not be compatible with Android devices, which also runs counter to the original intention of one interface to handle all devices, so this approach has also been opposed by many netizens.
At present, there is no actual evidence for this statement, but considering Apple’s consistent approach, perhaps in the iPhone 15 series in the second half of the year, the USB-C interface with MFi certification will appear in front of users.
