this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
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[–] circuscritic@lemmy.ca 23 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Is this because it's a last minute design change of just the port, but they opted to also change out the USB controller on the pros?

Or is this their new "16gb vs 128gb" upsell strategy?

[–] lustrum@sh.itjust.works 55 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Based on the presentation it seems like the USB3 controller is on-die for the A17 pro bionic chip. So rather than re-engineer the chip for the A16 they've shipped it on the cheap, they could add an external controller or re-engineer the die.

I'd bet next year all iphone models are USB3.

[–] krische@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

People will hate it, but it's a very logical explanation

[–] synthy@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Maybe I’m lost but why will people hate it?

[–] krische@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Because people would probably rather believe it's some conspiracy by Apple to purposely nerf the cheaper iPhone.

[–] synthy@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Ah. Well if I’m not mistaken Lemmy is mostly Android / FOSS biased so I’m not surprised some people might have the “Apple bad” mindset. Honestly why do people care what products other people use? I read a comment the other day about an Android user despairing that some feature Google is implementing (don’t remember which) might make some Android users jump ship to Apple… Ok who cares? Why so much emotional investment in something so trivial? It sounds just as crazy when you flip it, “Oh no some of my Apple friends are switching to Android or PC” …. A phone is an everyday appliance. Do you care what brand your neighbor’s kitchen appliances are? That’s how you should feel about phones IMHO.

[–] Kirca@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

It's not quite that simple when you're talking about a company with huge market share like that because the decisions they make go on to effect the market as a whole, look at headphone jacks, or screen notches for example. Not saying this is only apples fault, companies following their lead are just as bad or worse in some cases.

We can see it happening again with the removal of Sim cards, sure it won't effect me, but if it becomes more industry standard, it will; and I like physical Sims (though that argument is not for here).

In my opinion it is important to know and criticize market leaders to try to avoid those changes becoming industry norm. To use your example, I would care about what whiteware my neighbours buy if the shitty decisions they make come back to effect me down the road. Look at the criticism of smart TVs and how hard it is to get a top featured "dumb Tvs" now.

[–] timicin@lemmygrad.ml 0 points 1 year ago

Ah. Well if I’m not mistaken Lemmy is mostly Android / FOSS biased so I’m not surprised some people might have the “Apple bad” mindset. Honestly why do people care what products other people use? I read a comment the other day about an Android user despairing that some feature Google is implementing (don’t remember which) might make some Android users jump ship to Apple… Ok who cares? Why so much emotional investment in something so trivial? It sounds just as crazy when you flip it, “Oh no some of my Apple friends are switching to Android or PC” …. A phone is an everyday appliance. Do you care what brand your neighbor’s kitchen appliances are? That’s how you should feel about phones IMHO.

iphones are status symbols so they get to be ascribed w the same emotional irrationality that other status symbols get like cars and clothes.

[–] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 year ago

Yeah it appears like they are differentiating the high end phones with the latest SoC and giving the core phones the previous year's chip. You get whatever the old chip had and next year's iPhone 16 will get the A17 and all the features that includes.

[–] GrayBoltWolf@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Except several (non M1 iPads) have USB 3.1 already….

[–] thejml@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

I’d have to see a teardown, but I’d imagine with all the extra space in the iPads, they could stick a separate controller board in there. Phones are a bit harder to do that with, especially if it’s a last minute change.

[–] HurlingDurling@lemm.ee 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's their, use iCloud for data transfer instead of usb strategy

[–] makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago

All that sweet, sweet data

[–] ripcord@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] Telodzrum@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

WiFi is basically dialup compared to USB 3.1 speeds.

[–] ripcord@kbin.social -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But much faster than USB 2.0.

You're not going to transfer much at faster than wifi speeds for very long on a phone.

[–] lud@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, that's why it's bad that it's 2.0.

[–] ripcord@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago

...but doesn't matter very much.

[–] realitista@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Man I tried wifi syncing for quite a while and had nothing but problems with it. It was a disaster.

[–] realitista@lemm.ee -4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's to force people to pay for iCloud storage rather than keep files locally on their PC. That, and nothing else. No other phone in this price range still has USB 2.0, and most haven't for a very long time.

[–] LazaroFilm@lemmy.world -5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They may have had a contract for a certain number of chips for lightning and they’re using them in the lower iPhones instead of taking a loss.

[–] TenderfootGungi@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

The old chips are on a larger node and cheaper to make. They are reserving the expensive chips for the expensive phone to save margin.

[–] gregorum@lemm.ee -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They also may simply not have had enough supply of chips for the newer iPhones

[–] LazaroFilm@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

That too. But likely just engineered premium.