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Indeed, the EU is supposed to have mandated that all smartphones be chargeable with a microUSB cable, but in the case of iPhones and other iDevices, this hasn’t yet happened, even though a microUSB to 30-pin-dock connector is available for 8 pounds in the UK – although it’s not on the Australian online Apple Store at all.
Now comes the supposed “independent” confirmation from Techcrunch’s sources that the iPhone 5’s dock connector is definitely changing from the current 30-pin model to a much smaller dock with 19-pins instead that definitely looks USB sized.
Perhaps the 19-pin port will actually work with microUSB cables for charging, while requiring Apple’s own cable for actually syncing data, even though plenty of other smartphones get by wit just a regular microUSB cable for both syncing and charging.
Perhaps the additional pins beyond those for power used as part of Apple’s licensing scheme – or perhaps that’s all just too convoluted.
Apple does what it wants to do, generally speaking, and its customers seem to have no major issues in paying Apple’s prices for anything it sells, but if Apple does change the port configuration, speaker designers, car makers and anyone else with products that feature a dock connector will simply have to change it – just as case makers have to do each year when Apple mixes things up.
The old cases generally aren’t a perfect fit for new devices, or are not suited at all, so Apple is certainly no stranger to changing things when it feels those changes are warranted and necessary.
If Apple does indeed change the dock connector, as everyone seems to be currently expecting, it’ll simply mean a whole new swathe of speaker systems, luxury cars and anything else that as a dock connector.
There may well be easy modification kits too, as we see with that microUSB to today’s 30-pin connector that, while large, has generally served iDevice only very well.
So, while this “rumour” is claimed to be accurate, the only true way to tell is via some kind of accidental “new iPhone” details leak, or via the keynote presentation for the iPhone 5 launch itself in a just few short months time.
Until then, we can only wonder which piece of rumour or speculation will pop up to excite everyone pre-retail availability over the next few months – this dock port change rumour is just the latest rehash of previous such rumours.
Ultimately, the iPhone 5 launch event is where we’ll know the truth, but if the new iPhone 5 genuinely has a new connector that is microUSB compatible, it will probably be welcomed and derided – as is often the case with changes – in equal manner.
