“We previously told you that Apple will be licensing its female Lightning port to third-party accessories, following an announcement to Made for iPhone licensees late last year,” Jordan Kahn reports for 9to5Mac. “Since then, the company has released specs for the Lightning port that details exactly what Apple hopes to achieve by opening it up to third-parties, including how it could improve accessories.”
“Many different accessories will use the female Lightning port,” Kahn reports. “The port can directly charge, as well as offer passthrough charging and syncing.”
“Another benefit of Lightning, according to Apple, is the ability to charge accessories faster than with USB,” Kahn reports. “Apple notes that using the same Lightning cable plugged and power adapter that came with your iPhone (or a MFi-certified USB power adapter) allows charging of internal batteries at higher rates than with USB options, including the micro-USB port currently used for charging on most accessories.”
Much more in the full article here.
[Attribution: Engadget. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]