“Loyal Apple customers face being left with hundreds of pounds worth of obsolete accessories when the next version of the iPhone is produced,” James Tozer reports for The Daily Mail.
“The fifth generation model, expected to be launched in the US this autumn, will reportedly use a new connector for charging and for linking to audio equipment,” Tozer reports. “The rumoured proposal has sparked alarm among the company’s followers who fear they will have to buy new equipment to work with the phone. It is claimed that the iPhone 5 will use a smaller 19-pin version, which will be incompatible with existing accessories.”
Tozer reports, “On Mail Online, Allan from Dartmoor wrote: ‘Keep the same connector and I’ll probably get the next phone as it matched the various docks in the car and in the house. Change it and there is no reason for me to stick with Apple. This is why [the late Apple boss] Steve Jobs would have said ‘No’ to this idea. It is not an opportunity for dock makers. It is an opportunity for Samsung [a major Apple rival].’ … Others, however, were confident that an adapter would be available to enable the next generation iPhone to link to existing accessories.””
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Nothing like starting the weekend out with some pure idiocy. There will be adapters, obviously, but nobody’s allowed to give any to Allan from Dartmoor. Good one, Steve, not telling Allan the medium that there would be adapters.
Hundreds of pounds, wow!
I went to Fry’s in Palo Alto a couple years ago. When I entered the young greeter asked if he could direct me so I asked him where the RS-232 adapters were and I was met with a blank stare. Amazing. This was a technology that drove generations of tech and he didn’t enpven know what it was. The hours I spent trying figure out the right cabling, baud rate, parity and such so I could talk to some gadget.
That’s what happens when you give something a “Sony” type name. 😉
Okay, what about the hundreds of pounds of Android phones that are now obsolete because they won’t run the new (or even current) Android OS.
Yea, that sounds like an opportunity to me.
Don’t even get me started with Windows Phone 8.
I am so F$&@ing pissed that Apple would change a thing on that product that hasn’t been announced yet! How dare they not talk about how they’re changing things in advance that might or might not work differently then it does now. According to this guy I know they have this thing that coming out that may be diffrent then the current thing I’ve got. I for one will never buy another Apple thing again that might in the future be diffrent.
Well put. Rumors should be based on facts instead of rumors.
Love it. I wasted a lot of words on this subject that did not work nearly as well as your sarcasm.
Have we fallen sondar and become so desperate that we feel driven to complain about rumors and unreleased products? After surviving the Apple doldrums of the mid-90s and the PPC 604 stagnation in the late-90s and into the early 2000s, the pace of improvement in recent years is a welcome change. Be careful what you wish for, folks. You just might get it and come to regret it.
Allan from Dartmoor has no idea what Steve Jobs would have have said about the changes. Obviously, Steve Jobs said yes to many changes, most of them very successful.
Days after AAPL announced and demonstrated the iPhone 5 (or “The new iPhone”) with the new dock connector pinouts.
MSFT, Samsung, HTC, GOOG,,,etc are announcing the identical dock connector for all their “rip-off-from-Apple” mobile devices.
Guess this thread is.. .. .. dead.
Bigger fish to fry.
I think all the mfrs have agreed to adopt a single power socket design – so that we don’t need a new brick for every phone or device we own.
That leave the issue of data transfer.
This is the drossy Daily Mail you know, packed with sordid stories and the burning need to publish über scare stuff.
Pleased to that many of the comments at DM point out calmly that doubtless cheap adapters will be on the way.
His argument is completely idiotic… If they don’t keep the current connector, I’ll have to update all my accessories and there is no reason to stick with Apple… So I’ll get a different phone and… have to update all my accessories… Massive logic fail!
Get real people, the iPhone 5 hasn’t even been released yet. “Fury at Apples rip off plan” what bullshit, as if they have any idea what Apples plans are. Apparently there are a lot of idiots around who believe this crap. Get a life trolls, and use your heads for something other than a hat rack.
Can anyone say adapter? Surely someone will come up with one. I have to think some of you are still using JAZ drives for back-up.
I still have mine somewhere. Probably next to my 400 Sawtooth.
I’m assuming it will still be able to charge via USB, so if you have extra chargers they will still work. I have one in my bedroom, one at work and one in the living room. Plus I have a charger in the car. Plus I have a cable to sync on my computer. SO that’s what, five cables I’d need to replace? Adapters?! Uh. Grrr. Another way for Apple to rip-off its customers with overpriced accessories. And while I think syncing would be great if it could be over Thunderbolt, their cables cost $50. I don’t want to pay that. I’m just glad I don’t have any dock connector items. Except for an alarm clock that isn’t compatible with my phone anyway. And a few Apple docks which were stupid purchases because they don’t work with Apple’s iPhone Bumper. Oh Apple. Just stop screwing us.
The adapter is just a very small piece and will be very cheap or included. You can use all your docks and speakers. Just plug in a small adapter, what’s the big deal everybody?
It’s not like the stuff you own is rendered useless!!!!!!!!!
Cant see the point of it being magnetic. An iPhone is too small and light to detatch if you catch the cord. I’m sure if the rumour is true then they’ll be adapters. But how many accessories does your average person have? Mostly speakers I imagine. I have a jambox which uses Bluetooth so the only pain will be the collection of chargers I have lying around.
The point is, it’s easy and fast to connect, no more lineing up of dock connector and cords, or accessories.
And progress is on the top, the old connector was introduced in 2003, time for a revamp and don’t be surprised that if done will transfer 25 times faster due to the new circuitry built in.
Take a look at the MagSafe 2 connector on the new Mac Pro Laptop and you will see the point.
Nobody caught the article saying the fifth generation iPhone may have a smaller connector — the iPhone 4S is the 5th generation iPhone!!
The interesting thing here is that no one is wrong. It is “not good” that you cannot repair something. Anyone who says it is good that you can’t repair something, just think about that for just a moment. That’s all.
It is good that you do not have to repair something if you do not wish. That is a given. It is nice to drop your computer off with someone, go about your business, and pick it up later.
It is nice having a computer this powerful, that is this light and thin. If the ability to self repair is the sacrifice I’m making, so be it. (Though I do not necessarily believe this is the only reason I’m locked out.)
What actually surprises me is how angry people are over this issue one way or another. No one HAS to buy this computer. There is a relatively conventional MacBook Pro you can purchase instead, or as some of the mean people suggest, you can go to competitors, but guess what… in their tiny computers, their ultra books, etc. you will find much of the same thinking.
In the olden days, things did last longer, and they did retain value longer. Knowledge is gained and passed along by doing repairs. I learned the basic of electronics playing around with tubes. Oh well, those days are gone. I learned through dumpster diving with friends. Playing with printed circuit boards, etc. I guess if I had a kid now, I’d help him learn through designing virtual circuits on his iPad or something. Things change.
We all here also understand the concept of planned obsolescence, and even though my shiny new retina MBP just got here yesterday, it’s soooooo obsolete.
Who is at fault for this though? As many have indicated, shiny and new is what consumers demand. Cooler, sexier, products, not long life products.
Now if only I could find the 1962 Ford T-Bird or 1971 Black on Black Camaro I want. They’re out there. People just want too much money for them.
Not a mention to the fact that this is being pushed upon Apple by an EU mandate that all cell phones be equipped with the same connector dock. Short term, it is a drag to scrap some older cables. A real bummer that some slick dock accesories will now be kluggie to stay useful with new devices, but in the long run this looks to be a good thing.
Makes it easier for accessories makers if all phones use the same dock.
Funny… it was the very same reaction when Apple released the first iMac without a floppy drive.
The only thing that bothers me other than the micro USB. The writer calls it the fifth generation. It’s the sixth generation iPhone. IPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, & iPhone 4S. If the writer said iPhone five that’d be ok. But it’s not the fifth generation.
Apple has not officially announced anything you tools! This endless speculation is boring. Save your righteous indignation until you know the truth,
If we followed this logic of not coming up with new ideas and technologies to don’t require change we all would be wearing shoes with buckles and wearing three corner hats and very large starched white collars. There is an old Persian saying. “This too shall pass”. Learn to love it or live with it or get out of the way.
wow. People here are nuts. APPLE RULES!
what about my car stereo that opens and my phone goes inside? Not with a new connector and not with an adaptor. What about my charge/stereo dock at home?
Its easy to call people whiners and all but think first. It may not affect you but it will have an affect.
Don’t get me wrong, i’m not trying to start anything, I still have my Apple ][ and have been using Real computers all my life but please, get over yourselves. Even Apple can screw up.
Hey Dartmoor is like the lost continent it will probably be 5 years before he even manages to get hold of a new iphone.
they must support old devices in some way. There comes a time when everyone will say no more. All their new customers can leave just as fast as they came.
Elo, do you realize what you said? The new customers certainly are less tied to the platform than those who have invested in the ecosystem, but they are the ones least concerned about preserving an investment!
Actually, as a loyal Apple supporter, I am fed up with the change of connections–whether it’s from the back of my iMac to my TV or anything else. I can’t tell you how much I’ve spent over the years on connectors. Apple ought to get it right and leave it right.
Progress, and a MagSafe 2 connector will be welcome.
It’s not like thoes older devices will stop working, you purchased accessorys for the devices you have now, not for the Future.
And if you see allot if not all accessory radios connectors and such only support a certain range of hardware, not everything can stay the same, HELLl look at Microsoft.
With a mentality like that engineering and design wold still be in the 1920’s.