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. Despite the fact that “Lightning” sounds cool, it most positively was not a cool transfer by the tech big. It was supposedly within the identify 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 just a few 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 just a few

uncomfortable changes
, together with the EU-induced shift to a USB-C port.

I knew that will be probably the most painful shift, however experiencing it for myself highlighted just a few issues that rubbed me the mistaken manner. So what did I do? Wrote all of them down, in fact. Apple, for those who’re studying this, I’ve bought just a few notes for you.

I should not have to search around for brand new {hardware}

For a $1000 telephone, 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 minimize 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 wire that got here with the telephone. I spent at the least per week charging my telephone 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 until I am on the health club. If I am working, strolling, or listening to music on my commute, I take advantage of wired headphones — whether or not that is Apple’s EarPods (which I nonetheless suppose have the very best microphone) or my trusty discontinued Bose headphones. Due to Amazon’s quick delivery, I solely needed to go sooner or later with out listening to my music and night meditations, but it surely 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.

Associated

5 gadgets I always travel abroad with

You have bought your outfits deliberate out, so what about your tech?

Champagne issues, sure, but when I am paying over $1000 for a telephone when all is alleged and performed, I should not need to exit and spend $30+ on a block, dongle, and new headphones. Apple desires us to improve so badly, but it surely nonetheless desires us to pay the distinction within the adjustment.

Throw us a bone, Apple

At the least for the subsequent couple of generations

It could 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 might 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 almost 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 mates who upgraded to the iPhone 15 collection when it got here out in 2023. It was painful watching the look in your greatest good friend’s face when her telephone was about to die at your home earlier than an evening out and all you had available was a Lightning charging cable. It was even worse when the good friend with the very best playlist went to go plug into the aux within the automotive 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 automotive cable.

Associated

Is the iPhone 15 still worth buying in 2025? The answer is complicated

Presumably, however you should not get one straight from Apple.

Wanting on the years forward

The one manner out is thru, apparently

Figuring out what the primary group of USB-C converts went by way of, I am preserving all my Lightning cables round for just a few extra years in case somebody involves my home (or automotive) with a pre-15 collection iPhone. I want Apple had put just a little extra of its new branded {hardware} out into the world (particularly with the prevalence of corrupted third-party {hardware}) simply to make the transition just a little simpler.

Nevertheless, identical to the unique change to Lightning — which was way more annoying, I am positive — Apple customers are simply going to need to get used to it. The EU backed the tech big right into a nook for motive, they usually needed to cave or else lose the European market. I am simply hoping that now we have at the least a decade earlier than Apple tries to tug one other pick-me {hardware} transfer on us once more.

Associated

My iPhone 16 Pro felt wrong, then I tweaked these 7 settings

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