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Displays Iphone Apple

For This Year's iPhone, Apple Is Ditching Lightning Connector and Home Button, But Embracing USB Type-C and Curved Display (wsj.com) 223

Posted by msmash from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.
Apple has decided to adopt a flexible display for at least one model of the new iPhone, reports WSJ. From the report: People with direct knowledge of Apple's production plans said the Cupertino, Calif., company has decided to go ahead with the technology, and it will release a phone model using the OLED screens this year (Editor's note: the link could be paywalled; alternate source). The technology allows manufacturers to bend screens in ways they couldn't previously -- such as by introducing a curve at the edge of the phone as in some Samsung models. However, once the phone is manufactured, the OLED screen can't be bent or folded by the user, at least with current technology. Using OLED displays would allow Apple to introduce a phone with a new look to fuel sales. They said Apple would introduce other updates including a USB-C port for the power cord and other peripheral devices instead of the company's original Lightning connector. The models would also do away with a physical home button, they said. Those updates would give the iPhone features already available on other smartphones.
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For This Year's iPhone, Apple Is Ditching Lightning Connector and Home Button, But Embracing USB Type-C and Curved Display More

For This Year's iPhone, Apple Is Ditching Lightning Connector and Home Button, But Embracing USB Type-C and Curved Display

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  • s7 edge (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28, 2017 @10:08AM (#53945355)

    So they are making an s7 edge without a home button.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antek9 ( 305362 )
      Yeah, who copies whose designs again? The only way Apple could be innovative with edge screens would be if they wrapped around to the back (maybe just for one or two millimetres for face-down signaling, maybe all the way around like some of their patents made it look like). Even then, it would build upon and heavily depend on Samsung's technological achievements (remember how long it took them to get the crafting process of the Edge screens right?).

      • Re:s7 edge (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Ranbot ( 2648297 ) on Tuesday February 28, 2017 @11:20AM (#53945843)

        Yeah, who copies whose designs again?

        No kidding.

        The only way Apple could be innovative with edge screens would be if they wrapped around to the back...

        For me personally that feature is a negative, because there are times I purposely place my phone face down to avoid distraction of flashing notifications. When I want my phone to alert me of things, I place it face up [or on vibrate].

    • Cowardice, I tell you!

  • frist poast! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28, 2017 @10:09AM (#53945361)

    new year new connector new headphones again!

    • Re:frist poast! (Score:5, Funny)

      by harrkev ( 623093 ) <kevin.harrelson@ ... om minus painter> on Tuesday February 28, 2017 @12:30PM (#53946277) Homepage

      What is MOST amazing is that Apple is putting an INDUSTRY STANDARD on an iOS device. Is it snowing in hell yet?

      • All phones sold in the EU must be usb. "All mobile phones in EU to have the same charger: European Parliament votes on law in attempt to cut down electronic clutter. A single charger will have to be compatible with all mobile phones after a vote in the European Parliament".Mar 13, 2014 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new... [dailymail.co.uk]

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Pieroxy ( 222434 )

          All phones sold in the EU must be usb. "All mobile phones in EU to have the same charger: European Parliament votes on law in attempt to cut down electronic clutter. A single charger will have to be compatible with all mobile phones after a vote in the European Parliament".Mar 13, 2014 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new... [dailymail.co.uk]

          iPhone chargers are regular USB chargers with which you can recharge your Samsung phone if you feel like it. So no, all phones in the EU do not have to be USB. But they HAVE TO be able to recharge off of a USB charger, and the USB charger provided must be able to charge other devices.

          And Apple fully comply to this.

        • All phones sold in the EU must be usb. "All mobile phones in EU to have the same charger: "

          How did you manage to state one thing and quote an entirely different one? A phone being USB is far from the same thing as having the same charger as another phone. And the iPhone has done that for many years, can happily charge from Samsung phones and visversa

          Actually in 2009 all the companies signed up to a deal to work with USB, mostly non-captive chargers due to an EU initiative. The daily mail article is rubbish. Of the half a billion phones in currently in the EU, nearly all of them charge via USB, iP

  • Apple finally adopts USB?? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by NotInHere ( 3654617 ) on Tuesday February 28, 2017 @10:09AM (#53945363)

    Has hell frozen over?

    • Huh? The iMac was the first mainstream computer to use USB for keyboard, mouse, and pretty much everything else and was the reason that most of the early USB peripherals had tasteless translucent plastic covers, so that they'd match the iMac. The most recent MacBooks and MacBook Pros have used USB-C for power and the MBP uses USB-C for everything. Apple and Google were both very active in the standardisation process for the connector.

      • I still remember when the entire smartphone industry was doing usb connectors, including blackberries (so not only android land), only apple refused and went with lightning connectors.

    • Well, very specifically, they did have USB Type A, and more recently, Type C on the Macs, but now, they've finally embraced Type C on an iPhone. Only thing they had never embraced was Micro USB. On one hand, this is a good change, given that mechanically, Type C is better than Micro USB. OTOH, there is a huge Micro USB infrastructure out there.

      I guess there could be a big interim market for Micro USB to Type C dongles, since the bulk of cables are the former, and the newer devices tend to be the latt

      • Micro USB and before that mini USB are bad connector designs that wear out easily. In three years I have replaced my micro USB cables twice but only never replaced my lighting or before that bastard 30 pin connector of apples.

        Also don't forget Apple has history and used the specia cable as iPod originally connected by FireWire not USB. USB came later and for many years was 30% sower for transferring huge amounts of data. When the iPhone came out it was natural to maintain the same cable. The shocker came

        • Micro USB and before that mini USB are bad connector designs that wear out easily. In three years I have replaced my micro USB cables twice but only never replaced my lighting or before that bastard 30 pin connector of apples.

          Also don't forget Apple has history and used the specia cable as iPod originally connected by FireWire not USB. USB came later and for many years was 30% sower for transferring huge amounts of data. When the iPhone came out it was natural to maintain the same cable. The shocker came with lighting but lighting cables are superior to mini and micro USB. However USC c mini cables are better still.

          Agree w/ you about micro USB, but mini USB was pretty robust. Micro USB has those pins on the connector, which, once damaged, makes the cable unusable.

          That 30 pin Apple connector was miserable as well, and I easily frayed those connectors that came w/ the iPad. As for the iPod, the nano originally came w/ an AUX to USB Type A connector, which is what one used to copy songs to the iPod. I don't recall seeing one w/ Firewire. That one was something that camcorders had for a really long while before U

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by GuB-42 ( 2483988 )

          Micro-USB and USB type C are designed so that all weak parts (springs...) are on the cable side and not on the socket side.
          Cables are weak so that sockets can be made stronger, the idea being that cables are easier to replace than sockets. This is part of what motivated the switch from mini to micro.

          Another reason USB connectors are usually weaker than Apple connectors is simply because of cost. Apple only has $20 cables and $500+ devices, all made to high quality standards. And while some USB products are

    • Re:Apple finally adopts USB?? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by brianerst ( 549609 ) on Tuesday February 28, 2017 @12:12PM (#53946171) Homepage

      I think the wording on the WSJ article is unclear and the more likely scenario is that the iPhone will continue to have a Lightning port but that the power adapter will have a USB-C port, i.e., a USB-C to Lightning cable will replace the USB-A to Lightning cable.

      This would allow iPhones to plug directly into MacBooks without buying a separate adapter (plus for Apple ecosystem) but require most everyone else to buy a new USB-A to Lightning connector (great for sales).

      I don't know about the data rates over Lightning, but I'd guess it would be more likely that they could tweak that and get the much faster USB-C data speeds as a bonus. Backing up your phone would be much faster.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by unrtst ( 777550 )

      Nah. They just released the news 1 month early. APRIL FOOLS!

  • Another new headphone connector! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by nickovs ( 115935 ) on Tuesday February 28, 2017 @10:13AM (#53945389)

    If this is true (it seems to be just a rumour) then it will be two years in a row that Apple made users' existing headphones obsolete. That would be brave/arrogant/foolish even by Apple's standards.

    • Re:Another new headphone connector! (Score:5, Funny)

      by burtosis ( 1124179 ) on Tuesday February 28, 2017 @10:19AM (#53945419)

      If this is true (it seems to be just a rumour) then it will be two years in a row that Apple made users' existing headphones obsolete. That would be brave/arrogant/foolish even by Apple's standards.

      No, this is a move that takes courage!

    • If this is true (it seems to be just a rumour) then it will be two years in a row that Apple made users' existing headphones obsolete. That would be brave/arrogant/foolish even by Apple's standards.

      Honestly the sooner they drop lightning and other proprietary connectors the better. Not many people bought lightning headphones yet so the sooner they switch the less painful it is going to be.
      It would be even more arrogant to keep lightning for 4-5 years so that people invest into headphones and accessories* and then switch to USB-C.

      *Even tough stupid people buying headphones with a proprietary connector only have themselves to blame.

      • Re:Another new headphone connector! (Score:5, Insightful)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 ) <slashdot.worf@net> on Tuesday February 28, 2017 @01:00PM (#53946463)

        Honestly the sooner they drop lightning and other proprietary connectors the better

        If we stuck to "standard connectors" we'd still be using micro USB. The creation of lightning showed that it's possible to make a more convenient connector for users, and thus we have USB C, whose biggest claim to fame is it goes in either way. Unlike say, a certain 4th dimensional rectangular connector at the other end that doesn't go in until the 3rd or 4th try.

        No, proprietary isn't as good, but sometimes if you want innovation, you have to allow it. If people didn't care about connector orientation, then we wouldn't have USB-C today.

        • No, proprietary isn't as good, but sometimes if you want innovation, you have to allow it.

          Oh it's allowed. We (as customers) should just make sure they don't get any significant market share.

          If we stuck to "standard connectors" we'd still be using micro USB

          I disagree, but even if true, it would have been better if Apple used micro USB instead of their crappy 30-pins and lightning connectors.
          USB-C is not only reversible. Both ends use the same connector that's probably the main innovation, as well as high power charging, two things Apple proprietary connectors from above always lacked.

        • You're assuming that we needed a proprietary connector to make the change and that USB-C connectors wouldn't have come around due to some other reason.

      • I find it hilarious - here is apple having tried to force a proprietary standard, so everything existing is not compatible (lightning).
        Now we have apple finally adopting everyone else's industry standard and everything they had previously is incompatible (USB-C).

        Isn't this what happened to Firewire?

        Maybe one day they'll catch up to headphone jacks.

        • A proprietary standard doesn't exist. There are standard connectors and proprietary connectors. Apple connectors are proprietary, non-standard by definition.
          The only thing worse than a proprietary connector is a single-vendor proprietary connector, like Apple's.

          Having to change connector is bad but we have to do it at some point for many different reasons. When we do, we should make sure to switch for something much better, standard, and usable by many vendors so that we don't get vendor locked-in.

        • Firewire *was* an industry standard.

    • Does anyone offer headphones with a Lightning connector?

      Having to throw out the Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter is annoying, having to replace the headphones would be worse.

      • If you include earplugs, the one that comes in the iPhone 7 case is a headphone w/ a lightning connector. They also provide a aux-lightning dongle in case you wanna use your existing aux cable

        So w/ this transition, they'd have to provide an aux-Type C dongle for people to use it. For people who haven't gone completely Bluetooth.

        I don't use my iPhone 7 for music at all, but I'd be interested in an iPod Touch that did have a Type C instead of lightning. Only thing - it would have to have a way to play

    • USB-C supports analogue audio with a passive adaptor, so if Apple supports this mode then iPhone users would be able to use old headphones with a generic (cheap) adaptor.
      • Trust Apple not to implement that. Of course it requires an audio amplifier, probably a chip so small it's difficult to see. There's also some extra logic around the USB chip, because that's a relatively high-current low-impedance task. But Apple has already driven its users to a different solution, and has no reason to admit that analog headphones are just fine, and that it can support them.

    • I doubt they're doing away with Lightning. There are three main reasons why I think this:

      1) As you pointed out, they just did away with the headphone jack last year. If they were going to move to USB-C, it would have made a lot more sense to do it at the same time as killing the headphone jack, so they could push USB-C headphones as the new standard. Instead, they've pushed Lightning headphones.
      2) Part of the reason they dropped the headphone jack was to make the iPhone thinner. Lightning is a thinner

  • About time (Score:3)

    by MrLogic17 ( 233498 ) on Tuesday February 28, 2017 @10:21AM (#53945439) Journal

    It's abuot time they had the courage to use an existing standard on iPhones.
    Still no headphone jack though - and yes, I'm still bitter.

  • Sealed for freshness (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MrLogic17 ( 233498 ) on Tuesday February 28, 2017 @10:25AM (#53945467) Journal

    Sounds like with the addition of wireless charging, lack of headphone jack, and removing the home button - they are on track to make a phone that is a totally sealed slab. Once the last remaining physical connector goes away, it would be trivial to make a waterproof, dust-proof device.

    Side benefit for Apple - even harder to replace the battery.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 )

      it would be trivial to get rid of the connector, they already have magsafe yet the morons there ditched it for the inferior Usb-C.

      Dont expect real innovation from apple anymore. the left overs in job's office are now gone, it's all about profits and margin now. Even Johnny Ives is phoning everything in now.

      • it would be trivial to get rid of the connector, they already have magsafe yet the morons there ditched it for the inferior Usb-C.

        USB-C is much superior to mag safe. The fact that it is a standard alone is enough, but as a side bonus you get a port that can carry data.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by dj245 ( 732906 )

        it would be trivial to get rid of the connector, they already have magsafe yet the morons there ditched it for the inferior Usb-C.

        Dont expect real innovation from apple anymore. the left overs in job's office are now gone, it's all about profits and margin now. Even Johnny Ives is phoning everything in now.

        My IP69-rated Sonim XP6 phone has a magsafe charging connector. It also has a headphone port (with a cover).

        Headphone ports are not that difficult to seal. The Galaxy S4 Active and S5 had waterproof headphone jacks, and they didn't even need a cover to do it.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by jabuzz ( 182671 )

          Sony have been doing waterproof 3.5mm stereo jack sockets for more than 30 years now. Can't remember at what point they lost the covers but it has been probably a decade at least. You can even get fully waterproof microUSB connectors that don't need a cover and I imagine someone already has a waterproof USB-C without a cover too.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by GuB-42 ( 2483988 )

      There is still the problem of speakers and microphones.
      These are actually the hardest parts to waterproof. You have to make a trade-off between water resistance, sound quality and efficiency. Currently, it is done with a water-repelling mesh, but while this technique is effective at letting sound go through, its effectiveness at keeping the water out is limited. There is a reason most phones are only rated for 30 minutes.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ddtmm ( 549094 )

      Once the last remaining physical connector goes away, it would be trivial to make a waterproof, dust-proof device.

      What are you talking about? There are still the power, volume up, volume down buttons and the mute switch. Not to mention the microphone and speaker ports. And the USB-C port. If anything the home button is the one button that would be easy to seal and make waterproof/dust proof.

      • Those are all on the edge, which will be new screen space if this is right. So they'll be softbuttons.

    • The headphone jack did not cause problems for waterproofing. There are many waterproof phones with headphone jacks.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • iCandor (Score:2, Insightful)

    by argStyopa ( 232550 )

    "Using OLED displays would allow Apple to introduce a phone with a new look to fuel sales"

    Note it's not to improve anything substantial in terms of usability or quality or crazy stuff like that. It's just to improve their bottom line.

    I think it's rather honest of them to embrace and admit that, is "iCandor" trademarked yet?

    Of course, *I* won't buy one and the legions of iZealots won't care.

  • USB-C seems odd (Score:3)

    by swb ( 14022 ) on Tuesday February 28, 2017 @10:45AM (#53945573)

    For all of their hype about courage, design, etc, I've always subscribed somewhat to the idea that Apple like proprietary because it drives more marginal revenue for them via licensing and (at least initially) single-source supplier status on some aspects of their hardware.

    Which makes it seem strange that they would abandon Lightning for an industry standard connector. Dropping 30 pin connectors made sense from a practical perspective, and IIRC, they have some kind of proprietary chip in them which enables Apple to get a licensing cut (or guarantee quality standards, depending on how you like your kool-aid).

    A standard connector would end their relative monopoly on cabling.

    The rest of it -- virtual home button, etc, I'm totally willing to believe. The home button would actually be in keeping with their stated goals of removing bulky fixtures and connectors.

    • Re:USB-C seems odd (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Nemyst ( 1383049 ) on Tuesday February 28, 2017 @12:03PM (#53946129) Homepage
      Removing Lightning would also significantly remove the lock-in factor and their large 3rd party peripherals advantage. Not only would people have to buy iStuff-compatible hardware for the third time in a row (which would most likely lose them some people), the new hardware would support Android phones on a hardware basis, making it quite easy for Google to just add support for the peripherals in Android. Suddenly all of those iPhone exclusive sound docks, car docks and whatever else become universal.

      I frankly don't see that happening. Only thing I can see would be them bundling a USB-C cable and charger at the other end.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by swb ( 14022 )

        There is some ever-so-slight chance that losing Lightning for USB-C is part of some other, larger strategy involving broader peripheral use on iPhones and especially iPads.

        When the iPad Pro came out there seemed to be a lot of marketing trying to sell it as some kind of Laptop Lite, which is tough sell with a hermetically sealed system that doesn't support (AFAIK) even bluetooth mice other than a couple of specialty models and even then on an app-by-app basis, let alone various USB thumb drives or other bas

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ffejie ( 779512 )
      I'm not certain Apple ever made much money on the cable aspect of their proprietary connectors. Sure, they have marked up cables available in every store and they brand them Apple so you know they're good, but they're not exactly making a ton of money on something like that. Consider the stocking cost, the manufacturing cost, the packaging cost - it's a lot more expensive to put a cable in the Apple Store on 59th St in NYC than it is for Monoprice to have it in their warehouse. They can still do the old cer

  • iOS - WebOS? (Score:3)

    by oneiros27 ( 46144 ) on Tuesday February 28, 2017 @10:55AM (#53945653) Homepage

    They've had the ability to have multiple apps open at once, and to copy & paste between them for some time now.

    The change to 'push home button to unlock' is relatively recent, and the switch to a lack of button had been done 5+ years ago on the Pre3. (might have been on the Pre2 as well, I only had the Pre & Pre3). And they finally get wireless charging, which was an upgrade for the Pre (released in 2009).

    The UI became more WebOS-like, switching to cards that you can sort through rather than the strip of icons at the bottom of the screen. (although it's still one card per app, not one stack of cards per app, with related windows stacked together, even if it's the MS Word reader and the web browser stacked w/ mail, as that's how you opened those windows).

    Now they just need to make the notifications less crappy. An alarm that you can shut off by grabbing for you phone while half asleep? Who's stupid idea was that? .... and I'm wishing I had held out for the blackberry. Finally made the cutover to iPhone this weekend, after trying to get used to it for a few months while the Pre3 was my main phone.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday February 28, 2017 @10:59AM (#53945683)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mysidia ( 191772 )

      Lasts 48 hours on a charge most days, and cannot self-discharge within 16 hours with all radios active and CPU bouncing off the thermal governor

      I think the closest you get is the Japan-exclusive LG V34, or the US version LG V20 Dual-sim option [gsmarena.com], Plus find yourself some kind of IP67 case to seal it up in.
      Gotta disqualify the Samsungs, Because when you use the Dual-Sim feature, you lose ability to use the Micro-SD storage slot,
      since they make both of them use the same tray.... Like you would ONLY

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by mysidia ( 191772 )

          My Note 3 with its (zerolemon) 10Ah cell lasts about 3 days idle, or 12 hours with the CPUs pegged

          3 days idle should be a cinch for the manufacturer.
          The trouble is when you suggest top of the line CPU completely pegged out.
          I believe top-of-the-line would be considered an ARMv8-A chip, of a model such as the Qualcomm SnapDragon 835 8-core processor.

          Fully pegged out to maximum usage, Assuming the chip is perfectly cooled, so there's no throttling going on: the CPU's Going to wind up dissipating on th

      • You need to take some of his requirements with a grain of salt, and assume he's exaggerating. The battery-life requirement is one of those. I think it's entirely possible to get a significantly longer lifetime than current phones, with normal usage (not CPU bouncing off the thermal limiter...); all they need to do is double the battery size. Considering how everyone and his brother has some kind of case on his phone, a little extra thickness shouldn't be a big problem.

        We don't need 20 pound cellphones, a

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by hipp5 ( 1635263 )

      I think you overestimate the size of the market of people like you. Buuuut I digress. Have you looked at any of the OnePlus phones? The 3+ doesn't have everything you're looking for, but it's probably the closest you'll get.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Ksevio ( 865461 )
      Thermometer isn't very useful on a phone since it generates a lot of heat and is often in your pocket.
    • That's like asking real estate developers to build affordable housing, instead of affordable housing with a "luxury" tag that triples the price.
    • The reason you (I mean people in general, not just you) are not getting more is because of what you have installed on your phone. In your case, the fact that you say the CPU is loaded should be a clue something isn't right. You should be able to get a full day with anything even remotely modern unless you're a pretty heavy user, in which case an extended battery should work. If you have a phone capable, I don't buy phones without sd or internal batteries, stop buying into trends.

      So what's doing it?
      Socia

  • Welcome to this week's exciting game of "Connector du jour", where you try to guess what kind of wire, cord, or connector you'll need to charge your iPhone!

    The First Place Winner gets a free dongle of their choice from Apple, while the Second Place Winner gets a night with the bride!

  • My prediction (Score:3)

    by Mr_Silver ( 213637 ) on Tuesday February 28, 2017 @12:00PM (#53946113)

    It'll be called the iPhone 7S and 7S+. It'll have the same design as the iPhone 7/7S, same connectors, slightly faster processor, slightly better camera, slightly better battery life, slightly better video performance, slightly better network support and iOS 11.

    You know, like they've been doing since about 2011 when they first introduced the 4S.

    At which point, we'll see that people who have "knowledge of the matter" really don't have any at all.

  • Curved screens... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Bartles ( 1198017 ) on Tuesday February 28, 2017 @01:29PM (#53946671)

    ...are a hideous example of function following form. The curve makes it difficult to protect the phone, and do not improve functionality in any way. It's something that needs to go away.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by green1 ( 322787 )

      Not to mention the impossibility of actually holding the thing without accidentally registering touch events on the screen that is now on the sides of the phone where you are supposed to hold the thing!

      The "edge" screen is one of a number of reasons why my current Note4 will likely be my last Samsung device.

    • How different is this to sold storage, RAM, battery, remove all ports in favor of one USB-C (in Apple notebooks) and remove phone jack, home button + sold battery in iPhones in order to get 2 millimeters more slim?

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