The Thunderbolt 5 reveal makes Apple’s archaic iPhone 15 USB-C choice even more insulting
To the surprise of very few people, at its September Event 2023, Apple has finally announced the iPhone 15 range, the Cupertino company’s first handsets with USB-C ports – but there’s a big catch.
While the new iPhones’ adoption of the popular USB-C port, used in a wide variety of tablets, smartphones and laptops, is certainly welcome, the revelation that the iPhone 15’s standard USB-C port is the USB 2.0 standard – which was first introduced in 2001 – is, to put it bluntly, a bit of an insult.
Apple’s decision to put 20-year-old hardware into an expensive, modern smartphone that starts at $799 / £799 / AU$1,499 is initially baffling. Well, until you realize that, for starters, it appears that Apple’s embrace of USB-C in the new iPhones isn’t by choice — but because the European Union passed legislation in 2022 to eliminate “significant amounts of electronic waste caused by unused chargers”. and the inconvenience of… users needing different cables for different devices.”
Adding USB-C but using very old technology really makes it feel like Apple is only reluctantly dropping its own Lightning ports.
While the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus come with USB 2.0, which supports data transfers of just 480 Mbps, the much more expensive iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max come with the more recent USB 3.0, which supports data speeds. up to 10Gbps.
So it feels like Apple is essentially saying that if you want a new iPhone with decent data transfer speeds, which is important if you want to transfer photos from your iPhone to MacBook, for example, you’ll have to spend more money on a more expensive iPhone model.
Interestingly, the Lightning port of previous iPhones, including the iPhone 14, supported data transfers of around 480 Mbps, the same as the USB 2.0 port in the iPhone 15. This could be another hint at Apple’s reasoning, as it company may not want it to previously insist on using the Lightning interface to give the impression that it was disadvantaging its customers.
Thunderbolt 5 is coming
What makes the USB 2.0 technology in the new iPhone 15 look even more outdated, is that – as VideoCardz reports – Intel announced Thunderbolt 5, the next generation USB-C interface.
According to Intel, Thunderbolt 5 will have a potential maximum speed of 120 Gbps – a huge increase over USB 2.0, and potentially up to 12 times faster than the USB 3.0 ports on the iPhone 15 Pro models.
Thunderbolt 5 will also be about three times faster than Thunderbolt 4, with a top speed of 40 Gbps, and six times faster than USB 4.
It’ll be a while before we see Thunderbolt 5 compatible devices, with Intel-based PCs and laptops likely to support it in 2024 with Intel’s upcoming Meteor Lake processors.
Still, this makes Apple’s inclusion of USB 2.0 in its latest iPhones look even more archaic – especially if we have to wait until 2043 before we see Thunderbolt 5 on iPhones.