> "No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame." -- Slashdot creator CmdrTaco/Rob Malda about the iPod in 2001.

I can’t remember the last time I connected my iPhone to a computer to do a data transfer.

In fairness, this was a relatively lackluster update to the iPhone. There is little difference between the iPhones 11 to 15 for normal consumers. It suggests upgrade cycles can lengthen as a result.

If you buy the iPhone 11 right now, you will get 1 version update and that's it. You will still get security updates I guess.

Where has it been stated that iPhone 11 will only get one more (presumably iOS 17?) update?

Nowhere. The release of iOS 17 will support iPhone XR/XS, which is one generation older than iPhone 11. GP probably means iPhone 11 will get iOS 18 next year and no more OS upgrades after that (based on the fact that iPhone X is not getting iOS 17, iPhone XS may not get iOS 18, and so on).

While Apple does not guarantee or publish a guarantee about how many years of major OS versions and security updates iPhones will get, it’s typically been about six or seven years of major OS version upgrades (from original device release) and another two or more years of security updates. The iPhone 11 was released in 2019 with iOS 13. When it’ll stop getting a new iOS version is up to Apple.

> There is little difference between the iPhones 11 to 15 for normal consumers.

Nope. The improvements in camera and what it offers are noticeable, especially for low light photography as well as video quality and types. Some examples: night mode, portrait mode, cinematic mode, etc. Normal customers do care for or are impressed such things. The difference from one year’s phone to the next year’s may or may not be significant, but if you’re looking from iPhone 11 to iPhone 15, there is a really huge difference.

The USB C connector is not 23 years old. IIRC Apple was a big participant in the USB C design process, advocating for a symmetric connector (like Lightning), unifying USB C and Thunderbolt, etc.

For that matter, Apple was a major adopter of USB starting with the iMac in 1998 (which also ditched 3.5" floppy disks in favor of optical and USB storage options - later models added FireWire.) Non-USB connections for iDevices (FireWire, 30-pin, Lightning) were used because of limitations of USB at the time(s). 30-pin and Lightning were retained for ~10 years to reduce connector churn (sorry Firewire iPod people.)

Regarding the pro model, it's definitely convenient to be able to shoot directly to an external SSD, connect to a monitor (and charge from it like a MacBook or iPad) etc. without a dongle.

Cope

Oh now it's convenient to connect it to external storage? What happened to "who cares about how shit itunes is on windows just buy a mac or use itunes", or "who cares about sd cards or external storage just use the cloud" etc.?

Both are true. 99.999% of users won’t connect external storage or a monitor. Personally I feel like I get nothing with the shift from lightening to USB C other than having to toss dozens of perfectly good cables and buy new ones that will achieve the exact same thing.

>For that matter, Apple was a major adopter of USB

And they've pioniered USB-C usage in charging with otherwise ill-conceived 2015 MBP.