I’ve bought 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. Although “Lightning” sounds cool, it most undoubtedly was not a cool transfer by the tech large. It was supposedly within the title 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 bought 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 might be essentially the most painful shift, however experiencing it for myself highlighted a number of issues that rubbed me the unsuitable means. So what did I do? Wrote all of them down, after all. Apple, when you’re studying this, I’ve bought 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 reduce out the charging block years in the past (and EarPods far sooner than that) for waste-reduction functions, however it will’ve been useful to have a charging block that went with the actual USB-C twine that got here with the cellphone. I spent no less than 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 suppose have the most effective microphone) or my trusty discontinued Bose headphones. Because of Amazon’s quick transport, I solely needed to go sooner or later 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 isn’t cool when dongles and EarPods are virtually pocket change to the corporate.

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You’ve got bought 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 claimed and executed, I should not should exit and spend $30+ on a block, dongle, and new headphones. Apple desires us to improve so badly, nevertheless it nonetheless desires us to pay the distinction within the adjustment.

Throw us a bone, Apple

A minimum of for the subsequent couple of generations

It might 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 would be years into the USB-C period, and it will be extra commonplace to come across these sorts of chargers and such. I would not have practically 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 numerous bits of {hardware} to make the transition only a bit simpler on the {hardware} entrance.

I bear in mind how annoying the difficulty was for my pals who upgraded to the iPhone 15 sequence when it got here out in 2023. It was painful watching the look in your greatest buddy’s face when her cellphone was about to die at your own home earlier than an evening out and all you had available was a Lightning charging cable. It was even worse when the buddy with the most effective 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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Trying on the years forward

The one means out is thru, apparently

Figuring out what the primary group of USB-C converts went by way of, I am protecting 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 slightly extra of its new branded {hardware} out into the world (particularly with the prevalence of corrupted third-party {hardware}) simply to make the transition slightly simpler.

Nevertheless, similar to the unique change to Lightning — which was much more annoying, I am positive — Apple customers are simply going to should get used to it. The EU backed the tech large right into a nook for an excellent cause, they usually needed to cave or else lose the European market. I am simply hoping that now we have no less than a decade earlier than Apple tries to tug one other pick-me {hardware} transfer on us once more.

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Name me dramatic, however my iPhone 16 Professional did not really feel like mine till I did this.