Mini USB was a dark dark time. Please don't bring up those bad memories.

I didn't forget it, I just have never seen a phone with mini USB. I've still actually got some devices that use it, but never a phone.

Not doubting that they exist, but I was very explicitly comparing my own personal experience to the Apple one.

If you accidentally trip over your cable, the cable will break but the port will be fine.

Tbh this is thing I'm not excited about the USB-C future on. On paper, I would expect that Lightning be more problematic since the springy bits are on device rather than the connector. In practice, I've never seen a Lightning port fail since it's come out. Micro-USB, which is much closer to USB-C in design (obviously with improvement) for me has basically come with an expiration date. I don't have enough USB-C stuff yet to say if that's going to continue, but it's a concern for sure.

USB C didn't exist when Apple made the lightning connector.

Are they idiots, or are they innovators and the rest are just trying to catch up?

It used to be the case, just like it was for laptops until very recently.

That's a fair point. Though I'd point out that two of the three pre-Thunderbolt (which—and I assume you know this, but I'm adding it in for the casual reader who might not know—uses the USB-C connector) Magsafe cables actually used the same connector, so you could use them interchangeably. They just improved the way the cable itself worked to come out at an angle instead of 90º. And that the new post-Thunderbolt Magsafe laptops can also be charged using the Thunderbolt/USB-C ports, so it's only adding a new option, not replacing one.

So it's definitely worse than their mobile devices, but not quite as bad as it might at first seem.

This is a weirdly untrue comment. The iPod used FireWire for a couple generations before switching to 30 pin and never changing again throughout the rest of the history of the classic iPod form factor.

And a cable has nothing to do with why people buy or stick with an Apple or Google device. A switch to USB C would be better for everyone and Apple knows it (otherwise why switch the iPad to usb c? Why not put proprietary connectors on macs???)

Also? If Apple switched to USB C when it was invented AFTER Lightning, you’d be complaining even harder about how Apple keeps switching their ports to get you to buy more cables. Better late than never

I use 10 Apple hardware devices currently, and have owned well over 100 since my first Mac 128K in 1984. I’m a sucker for Apple shit.

I kind of have to agree with the spirit of previous poster’s point. Apple does do annoying shit with port formats.

Between the four MacBooks in front of me, only two share the same main power format—and, of course, one of those can’t get enough juice from the other’s PSU.

Have two different formats for my iPads, and my partner’s iPhone and mine don’t share a format. That’s not remarkable, but the timing of the various iOS port format changes was frustrating, as certain devices made the port jump at the same time that their brethren did not.

I would finally note the rather large bouquet of different Apple wall-warts we have collected, also in two different formats, and a variety of wattages.

Finally, a lot of Apple’s cables have tips that seem purpose-built to fall apart, meaning even more trash in landfills.

And even then the classic iPod never used lightning, just stuck with the 30 pin

And the only reason FW was even used was because at the time it was the better connection method for transferring large amounts of data compared to USB.

When USB 2 was released and common, Apple switched to 30-pin and USB2, while still allowing those with FW adapters to continue using that medium.

You can connect a 1st gen FW-only iPod TODAY with the appropriate adapters and still sync and use it with new Macs.