Apple’s official farewell to Lightning; Forward to USB C and 10 Gbps speed

In the iPhone 15 series, Apple officially replaced the USB C port with the Lightning port so that these ports will finally retire after 11 years.

At its Wonderlust 2023 event, Apple officially unveiled its new generation of iPhones and, as expected, replaced the Lightning ports with the USB-C port.

This incident not only made the cable connections of various devices more integrated through the USB-C port; Rather, it has brought some new and attractive features of USB 3 ports, such as higher speed, to iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models.

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This replacement has been done following the issuance of a new European Union regulation that requires the use of a single USB-C port in all electronic gadgets by the end of 2024.

In the following, we will examine the new features that have been added to the new iPhones as a result of replacing the Lightning ports with USB C.

What is the benefit of replacing the lightning port with USB C by Apple for the iPhone 15 family?

Support for USB 3 means that data transfer between iPhone 15 Pro and Mac can now be done much faster. The higher data transfer speed means that ProRAW images or ProRes videos can be transferred from iPhone to Mac in less time.

In this regard, of course, you should note that Apple has not included the USB 3 cable in the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max box. So if you use the one-meter USB-C charging cable that is inside the box, your data transfer will be done at the speed of USB 2 ports.

Therefore, if you intend to benefit from the maximum data transfer speed in the new iPhones, you must either buy special cables from Apple or use external cables compatible with USB 3.

The new port in Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro, which replaces the Lightning ports, allows the connection of flash drives, external memories, microphones or even 4K displays to this phone, without the need for any additional dongles or adapters. In addition, with the help of these ports, you will be able to charge your Apple Watch or AirPods directly through the iPhone.

Despite the fact that all iPhone 15 models use the USB-C port, only the Pro and Pro Max models benefit from the necessary controllers to support USB 3 speed, thanks to the use of the powerful A17 chip. In this way, the data transfer speed in the normal and Plus iPhone 15 models will still be at the USB 2 connection level and equal to a maximum of 480 Mbps.

Of course, replacing the Lightning ports with USB 3 will have other advantages for the iPhone 15 Pro models, apart from the higher speed of data transfer. This year, for the first time, iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max users can record their ProRes videos directly to SSD storage.

Of course, this technology has been done before by the companies that make video and photography cameras. For example, the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema series of mirrorless cameras allow the user to record video directly to SSD memories.

It is not bad to know that ProRes videos are generally very large; So that even the 1TB iPhone model will face the problem of lack of memory very quickly by repeatedly recording these videos.

ProRes videos recorded on external memory will be recorded at a rate of 60 frames per second. However, if you plan to record videos with the highest quality and the highest frame rate, you will undoubtedly need a large external SSD memory.

iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max will also have another exclusive feature by being equipped with a USB-C port. These Apple phones will now be able to transfer their captured ProRAW images directly and at high speed to a Mac via a USB-C cable.

Therefore, professional photographers who use the iPhone 15 as their primary camera can purchase the Capture One photography package and transfer their 48MP ProRAW images directly to the Mac.

Apple has also announced that the next generation of AirPods will also be equipped with a USB-C port to make their connection with the iPhone and other Apple devices easier.

Besides all these things, using the USB-C port will significantly increase the charging speed of iPhones. To be precise, Apple claims that charging an iPhone wired through a USB-C cable with a power of 20W or higher can charge 50% of the battery in just 30 minutes.

This claim by Apple comes in the context that Android giants such as OnePlus have claimed that they are able to charge the battery of their flagship devices to nearly 100% in thirty minutes!

Conclusion

If you intend to use the maximum capability of the USB-C ports on the iPhone 15, it is better to go for the Pro and Pro Max models; Because only these two models use exclusive features such as the ability to quickly and easily transfer images to Mac, direct video recording on SSD memories, connecting 4K displays and other things.

On the other hand, the standard and plus models only have a physical USB-C port for charging and connecting to other devices and will not benefit from the advantages of the Pro and Pro Max models.