“USB Type-C, or USB-C for short… promises to solve a variety of problems all at once,” Roger Fingas reports for AppleInsider. “Its definining trait is actually a smaller, rounded port accepting reversible connections. This should not only remove the clumsiness of USB but allow faster data transfers on ever-thinner devices, with Apple’s new 12-inch MacBook being a leading example.”
“This includes running 4K or quad-HD displays, due also in part to increased power throughput. Indeed USB-C can theoretically handle up to 100 W in either direction, which is why the new MacBook doesn’t even need a MagSafe charging port,” Fingas reports. “Thunderbolt encapsulates DisplayPort, dedicating two 20 Mbps lanes towards displays. USB-C supports something called the “DisplayPort Alternate Mode,” which allows native DisplayPort signals to be carried over one, two, or four lanes as needed, with the tradeoff that using all four lanes will reduce USB 3.1 functions to the 2.0 level, and that USB-C can’t handle Dual-Mode Display Port, and hence passive (as opposed to active) DisplayPort adapters.”
‘The takeaway is that a computer like the MacBook can use USB-C as its sole connection standard. Even full-scale desktops may eventually be lined exclusively with USB-C ports, jettisoning dedicated HDMI, DVI, and Ethernet ports as long as needed adapters are available,” Fingas reports. “What’s interesting to consider is whether USB-C might replace Lightning, the Apple format used exclusively for iOS devices. Fundamentally Lightning is based on USB 2.0, and doesn’t offer much of a difference beyond a compact, reversible head — something USB-C could easily replace… Apple might also just choose to upgrade Lightning with USB 3.0/3.1 compatibility. But in the Mac world USB-C seems destined to spread, and it might not be surprising to see more Macs in the near future without Thunderbolt.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Asking iOS device users to go through another transition with adapters and different cords so relatively soon* after the move to Lightning seems like a big ask, but, as always with Apple, nothing is out of the realm of possibility.
*Lightning was introduced on September 12, 2012 with iPhone 5, iPod Touch (5th gen.), and iPod Nano (7th gen.)
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