“When iFixit tore the device apart, it found a USB 3.0 controller, and Apple has confirmed to us that the new iPad Pro will in fact support USB 3.0 transfer speeds over its Lightning port,” Andrew Cunningham reports for Ars Technica.
“USB 3.0 supports theoretical transfer speeds of up to 5Gbps, a little over 10 times faster than USB 2.0’s 480Mbps,” Cunningham reports. “The Lightning cable that ships with the iPad Pro is a standard USB 2.0-speed cable, and you’ll need to purchase USB 3.0 cables separately when they’re released at some undisclosed point in the future.”
Cunningham reports, “The cables may be physically different from the current USB 2.0 models, which don’t appear to have enough pins to support the USB 3.0 specification.”
More info and links in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Good to know!
SEE ALSO:
iPad Pro teardown reveals foam-filled speaker exclosures – November 13, 2015
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
But why is iPhone 6S not USB 3 yet?
Space. iPhone will likely have to wait for Apple’s next-generation A10 SoC to incorporate a USB 3.0 controller in order to save space. A separate USB 3.0 controller, such as the one in the iPad Pro, likely wouldn’t fit in an iPhone.
It may support it someday but there are still no adapters available to take advantage of the extra speed of USB 3.0.
Other areas where this iPad ‘Pro’ lacks professional characteristics:
* Amateurish keyboard that lacks backlight and iOS shortcut keys
* No faster Touch iD hardware
* No Forcetouch
* Lack of app build support for the larger screen (even Apple’s own apps aren’t modified)
* Too much dead space between keys
* Weighs 3.5 pounds with keyboard (vs Mac Air 11’s 2.5 pounds)
All in all, just a giant still crippled iPad with a ‘Pro’ moniker and a ridiculous price tag… and no compelling reason to upgrade from your existing iPad.
LOL,
then buy the Mac Air, apple will be happy to sell you one.
(Dude I guess when you eat Ramen Noodles you complain it doesn’t come served on a bun. )
If people primarily TYPE then get the Macbook ! (I have one) But of course if you’re an artist like me I also want the iPad Pro because I want to DRAW on it.
(as for stuff like “keyboard that lacks backlight” Apple is also selling the keyboard which they made with Logitech which is backlit, you can choose that when you order )
Maybe you like the Win Surface tablet but even as it boasts features, they aren’t implemented well, the KEY to a pen tablet is pen responsiveness and the surface LAGS the iPad Pro by a lot as videos show. Laggy sluggish tablets are useless no matter how many ports etc they have. BTW the surface does not have Forcetouch either…
Awe man 🙁 just when I thought I had a massive surplus of lightning cables. I just got 5 new ones between iOS devices, Apple TV, and my new Mac magic accessories. No wonder Apple is giving so many away now, they need to get rid of their supply and then that’s likely when they’ll launch the new cable lol.
I almost haven’t put mine down since receiving it. Particularly due to the attacks in Paris, I’ve been reading and watching news reports whilst doing work when it pops up, going in and out of email etc.
I’m finding that the size does indeed make a difference. It is of course much more immersive. I don’t feel the need to get to my iMac to get to work done. I’m getting work done.
I managet to type just fine, as with all the other iPads, either with my thumbs holding the device horizontally, or laying flat doing normal typing.
I’d definitely like to see developers including and especially Apple innovating and developing new apps to support this device.
Each time I think of the other things I’d like, I realize I’m drifting away from the simplicity oriented goal of the device, but if Apple wants iPad acceptance to spread, they’re going to have to improve iOS dramatically.
I need access to external devices. I need to be able to plug into EtherNet. I need a UNIX command line and the ability to load real network utilities, so I can sniff packets for instance, not just find out what my IP address is.
Still, for me, it’s 75% of the way there.
Using an iPad successfully does require you to be willing to change as well as rethink how you work and increasing dependency on the cloud.
You hit it right on the head. I’ve been able to use the iPad as my main computing device for work since the third generation of the iPad. The software is pretty good and with the newest versions of Pages and Numbers supporting the old versions of iWork, it is fantastic. Whenever I need Illustrator or any other desktop software, I can use LogMeIn and get that work done and it is immensely better with the iPad Pro which I am enjoying at this point!
(At people replying to Half The Story.)
I politely suggest that you don’t feed the trolls by replying to them. Leave them wallowing in their negativity while we enjoy the Apple goodness.
There is a strange and poignant joy in making those dedicated to the suffering of others suffer themselves specifically for their act of suffering induction. You’ve got to be good at it and perform the return fire with humor, so it’s not for the faint hearted. But it can be great fun for both the gladiator and the observers. It rips off the mask of trolls to reveal the utter fool beneath.
–That said, ‘Don’t feed the trolls’ is an excellent default.
I must be cotton-headed from cold meds, but why-oh-why does Apple base a Lightening cable on USB anything?!
Apple/Intel’s THUNDERBOLT 2 specification is 10 Gbps, twice that of USB 3. Why isn’t this the hardware spec Apple is using in the iPad ‘Pro’? Why isn’t this the spec supported in Apple’s provided iPad Pro cable?
(BTW: I note MDN’s point about space saving in the iPhone 6S series. But I’d think the iPad Pro has space to burn. Where’s the Thunderbolt 2 hardware?)
In short, because Apple is now a consumer-only hardware company. They can call it an iPad “Pro”, but anything with such limitations, iOS, iAd, iCloud dependency, and so forth — it’s not designed first and foremost for professionals.
The word ‘Pro’ has been abused in product marketing for decades. I’ve watched both iPads and iPad minis being used professionally in MD offices. But they’re not ‘pro’?
This is the first release of a named ‘Pro’ iPad. We’ll see how well it does, where it finds a niche. But it’s silly, in so far as I understand the situation, not to put the highest IO connection available into the highest end product.
With the additional volume in the iPad Pro case, it is puzzling why Apple couldn’t have offered a built-in USB-C port in addition to the Lightning port. That would make for a much more usable device for pros. You know, many/most pros actually need connectivity options to work in thee real world. Adapters are an annoyance and an unnecessary limitation. Unnecessary except by the stylists at Apple who seem to think thinness is more important than functionality even on a device that is called “Pro”.
But Apple has made its design choices. So now comes the product introduction. What is Apple using to sell the device? Well, pencils aren’t even available, so I guess Apple again is relying on consumers to jump first. As for Apple’s marketing department — is there some reason that nobody at Apple could have made connectivity capabilities clear from the start? Apple seems to have forgotten how to even talk to professionals. It’s disappointing. Perhaps some more informative advertising would help people understand product capabilities.
Now please don’t charge $50 for the adapter like you currently do with the Lightning-to-HDMI adapter. That kind of rip off just makes you look greedy.