This will change very quickly. USB-C is new, the manufacturing process has not been optimized, and there is very little demand and therefor no volume at the moment.
Apple May Replace Headphone Jack on iPhone 7 With All-in-One Lightning Connector
- Thread starter soxhop411
- Start date
Unless Apple can develop a proprietary version that they can control and monetize this will never happen. Additionally, Apple would have to increase the thickness of the iPhone to accommodate USB-C. Apple has a huge hard on for thin phones. No way they go backwards in thickness.
And Apple did not develop USB-C.
Both are pretty cheap already. I can't see the USB-C cables getting materially cheaper. I bought one of each in the last week, and I think I paid $6.99 for the lightning cable and $7.99 of the USB-C cable.
USB-C isn't going to replace Lightning. It's a similar reversible connector that is slightly larger. At some point the MacBook Pro and iMac will swap to USB-C like the 12" MacBook already did, but they will start making USB-C to Lightning cables rather than replacing Lightning. Hell they've just started proliferating Lightning to charge accessories like Beats speakers, the new Apple TV remote, and the new Mouse/Keyboard/Trackpad. The iPad Pro also supports USB 3 over Lightning so there's no limitation in the connector that prevents them from switching to USB 3 over Lightning connectors in the phones in the next generation.
Let's posit that the days of the 3.5mm headphone jack are numbered. I'm thinking it's likely that the industry that produces audio equipment that must connect to technology - which is a pretty big market, with implications far beyond smartphones - will standardize on a successor format. For a variety of reasons, I think USB-C is likely to be that (wired) format. It certainly won't be Lightning, industry-wide. Apple is practical and self-serving, but they're not obstinate. They didn't keep the original USB format off their computers in favor of exclusive FireWire or Thunderbolt. If the industry is making audio equipment with USB-C endpoints, I don't think they'd force their customers to use an adapter when they lose nothing - maybe half a mm of potential thickness - by using USB-C. Maybe if they didn't like or respect USB-C, they'd try to remain proprietary. But they endorse the format and are already using it in flagship ways.
Ultimately if headphones are connecting via USB then you just need to use a USB-C to Lightning cable to use an iPhone vs a USB-C to USB-C cable to use an Android phone though. Lightning is just a different connector that basically sends USB signals.
First few pages of results for "certified lightning cable" turned up a bottom price of $7.99 for me; "USB-C" turned up a penny cheaper ($7.98). Which basically supports your point, nobody's getting gouged for $30 cables these days unless they want to pay for a brand name or something.
(Google literally mailed out free USB-C cables to all their subscribers as a holiday gift).
Not only did they not keep USB off, they were the first to market with a USB-only computer.
AFAIK it was all the Google Fi subscribers. They got a holiday gift consisting of a USB 3.1 C-connector to standard A cable (the one you want, that has a new reversible type-C plug on one end and the old normal "big USB plug" that plugs into your computer or charger slot on the other), and a pretty decent set of Lego-style blocks with instructions on how to build a docking station or a cable organizer. Nothing amazing, but a nice touch.
It was Fi, yes (I have the assembled phone stand on my desk). And the Lego* pack did include a short USB-A to USB-C cord. The Nexus 6p came with a c-to-c and a ludicrously short (like, 6") a-c cord, basically only useful to plug into a laptop.
C cords aren't cheap yet. I mean, they're much cheaper than lightening, but still much more expensive than A. More importantly, they're much more limited still: monoprice-really, the barometer for these sorts of things- doesn't yet have the 8'+ length cords with C connectors that they have in abundance for A, at a few bucks a pop. That will happen, and soon, because it's USB. Comparing the pricing to Lightening is just silly: C prices are high because it's new and manufacturers haven't adjusted yet. Lightening prices will stay high for artificial reasons; C will be priced like A very soon.
(*'Lego' like 'band-aid' or 'q-tip', of course. Or 'Coke' if you're dumb)
C cords aren't cheap yet. I mean, they're much cheaper than lightening, but still much more expensive than A. More importantly, they're much more limited still: monoprice-really, the barometer for these sorts of things- doesn't yet have the 8'+ length cords with C connectors that they have in abundance for A, at a few bucks a pop. That will happen, and soon, because it's USB. Comparing the pricing to Lightening is just silly: C prices are high because it's new and manufacturers haven't adjusted yet. Lightening prices will stay high for artificial reasons; C will be priced like A very soon.
(*'Lego' like 'band-aid' or 'q-tip', of course. Or 'Coke' if you're dumb)
I know some Fi people got them (I'm one of them), the AFAIK was about whether it was all of them or not. Everyone I know did, anyway, but I'm not sure there was ever an officially announced policy.
Wow, thanks. I thought it was just the Legos and tossed the box in a drawer. I just double checked and found the USB-C cable in the bottom of the box.
And here's the $6.99 certified lightning cable from Amazon.