News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by chiefalchemist on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @11:05AM (#37497726)
> Nothing really to see here or complain about.

Apple's brand is generally pro-consumer and pro-experience. How is such dated technology (i.e., USB 2.0) anywhere close to Apple's brand (read: market expectations)? If any other company said, "Here's a brand new 2023 $800 device with USB 2.0..." there would be blood in the social media streets.

There were plenty of other ways to differentiate the pro and non-pro models. Using USB 2.0 is lazy and shortsighted. Obviously, not on-brand either.

Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by sleepybrett on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @11:39AM (#37498217)
The only people I hear complaining about the usb transfer speed are photographers/videographers who shoot using an iphone. That audience choses pro models because they have better camera already.

I personally have not used a cable to transfer anything since icloud backups came online.

It should be noted that usb-c on the non-pro models is no slower than lightning on any previous model.

Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by lotsofpulp on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @11:20AM (#37497970)
> If any other company said, "Here's a brand new 2023 $800 device with USB 2.0..." there would be blood in the social media streets.

I would bet against this, because I would bet 99% of people will never use a wire to transfer data from the phone.

The 1% who care will spend an extra $200 on a Pro model.

This is price segmentation / microeconomics 101, you can earn more money by asking for more money from people who want to pay more, and asking less money from people who want to pay less.

Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by discussDev on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @11:37AM (#37498186)
This is probably a dumb question, but how do you dump the photos from your phone to your computer?
Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by chiefalchemist on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @11:46AM (#37498286)
Moi? I usually access my images via iPhoto or Google Photos in a browser and then download from there. Rarely have I connected a device to my laptop or MBP. Occasionally, I've used BT to transfer, but again that's rarely.

In theory, the USB C port should allow us to connect a docking station / monitor to a iPhone 15 but I'm not so sure Apple has that in mind. afaik, you need at least USB 3.0 to do that.

Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by theshrike79 on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @12:06PM (#37498570)
Not via a cable? I want to be able to use my phone while it syncs. Being tethered to a computer during syncing would be tedious.

I also don’t want to have the photos on “my computer”. I’m really bad at hosting large amounts of data, I let professionals do it for me for a few.

I’m sitting on my couch and my phone is syncing data to multiple cloud services.

I specifically updated my camera too so I could get photos off it via Wi-Fi instead of having to faff about with memory cards or cables.

Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by pacifika on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @12:08PM (#37498588)
The photos are synced to the photo library on your Apple / windows pc in the background and appear there, thanks to iCloud Photos.

If you’re on Linux, install Jotta or Dropbox or Onedrive and the same thing happens.

Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by lotsofpulp on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @12:24PM (#37498786)
iCloud backup syncs to Photos on macOS. And then Time Machine backs up to a NAS.
Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by dzhiurgis on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @07:54PM (#37503176)
Good point and it's where apple lacks - instant, potentially p2p sync or browse using mac. Wifi speeds are good enough. AirDrop is absolute PITA to use other than sharing few pics with friends once in a while. Waiting for icloud to complete uploads at ~10mbps is shit experience.
Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by rsynnott on Thursday September 14, 2023 @08:13AM (#37507869)
Most people don't do this these days; they use iCloud or Google Photos (or whatever that's called these days) or Dropbox or something. Assuming they want their photos on their computer at all, or indeed have a computer; for many the phone would be the primary doing-stuff-with-photos device.

I've had an iPhone since 2008 or so, and yeah, back in the day there were lots of cases where you'd want to plug it in. I'm not sure I've _ever_ plugged my current (4 year old) phone into a computer except purely to charge, though.

Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by chiefalchemist on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @11:49AM (#37498314)
> This is price segmentation / microeconomics 101

Yes, it is. I said that :) And it's a lazy and shite way for a brand like Apple's to go about it.

There were plenty of ways to segment the models, using a fax machine-esque technology to do is silly at best.

Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by mfer on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @11:09AM (#37497804)
Think of this from the point of personas and their uses. What are the personas for 95% of the market and what tasks will they do that relate to USB transfer speeds? I suspect Apple has done this analysis and that most iPhone users won't notice the difference for the non-pro models.

Remember, the hacker news crowd as a group does not represent the masses of iPhone users.

Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by dalyons on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @11:30AM (#37498118)
They won’t even not notice the difference, they will never transfer anything by wire. No chance to even notice. This is such a non issue
Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by realPtolemy on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @11:07AM (#37497773)
They release it with 2.0 this year so that they can update it with 3.0 next year (or in two years) and it will all be forgotten.
Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by lern_too_spel on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @11:13AM (#37497862)
To be fair to Apple, iPhone users (even those buying Pro models) have endured USB 2 data transfer rates for years. Why should they care now? Apple's customers are well-versed in apologetics.
Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by chiefalchemist on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @11:57AM (#37498427)
Because now that port isn't Apple-only any more. It's a market wide standard and now other device manufactures can trigger the market to care.

"Let's go with the fax machine-y technology..." and the rest of the meeting attendees signed off? Perhaps the brand manager was on holiday? :)

p.s Put another way, I was waiting for the 15 and the USB-C. I'm not going to spend $800 on a device w/ USB 2.0, and I'm not going to spend $1000 just to get what is also a relatively dated technology (i.e., USB 3.0). Which is kinda funny...we're debating the value of USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 isn't exactly the current standard either.

Yeah, I get it. I'm an edge case. Most people don't care. I simply find it hard to believe that Apple so willing cut corners - for no reason - on the flagship devices.

Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by rsynnott on Thursday September 14, 2023 @08:17AM (#37507906)
> I'm not going to spend $800 on a device w/ USB 2.0

Is this purely kind of on general principles, or do you have a specific use-case for USB 3.0? Because if you do, well, yeah, fair enough, you're an edge-case, but it's worth remembering that most users do not; most people never plug their phone into a computer these days, except perhaps to charge it.

Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by raydev on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @03:21PM (#37500553)
> Why should they care now? Apple's customers are well-versed in apologetics

Instead of assuming the millions of customers are deluding themselves into a worse experience, consider that they don't care for this particular feature, and the median user does not need it or think about it at all.

For most people, the cable is a means to keep their battery full. That's it.

Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by ryandrake on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @06:13PM (#37502415)
I have many non-technical iPhone users in my family, and none of them, not a single one, even knows you can use a cable to "transfer data". It's 100% a charging cable to them.

The percentage of Apple customers who know you can transfer data over Lightning is minuscule, and of that minuscule number, a further minuscule percentage will care about USB 2.0 vs USB 3.0. A vanishingly small number of people care about this.

Re:Apple finally put USB-C in new iPhone, but limited to 23-... by mstolpm on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @12:04PM (#37498546)
Apple wants their users to use iCloud storage. Transferring photos and video by cable is not the suggested way of usage for most iPhone users. Using iCloud sync, your photos and videos are already waiting for you on your Mac. At least, if everything works and you aren't a heavy "Pro" user. Of course, that is not only a "pro-consumer" tactic, but a "pro-service-revenue" one. And if you are a "Pro" user with lots of data to transfer, you can either but the USB 3.0 cable or subscribe to the new 6 TB and 12 TB iCloud storage options. Or just do both. Of course, you need a Pro model ... but aren't you a Pro user in that case?