Rumors are swirling that future iPhones may not have any ports. Ed Hardy at Cult of Mac explains why a portless iPhone would be a horrible idea.
First off, there’s iPhone recovery. If something goes seriously wrong with your iOS handset, the cure is to hook it to a Mac or PC and use recovery mode. The need for this is rare, but occasionally crops up when operating system updates go horribly wrong. Without a Lightning port, this is impossible. The only option would be to send the iPhone to Apple or an authorized repair tech. A minor hassle suddenly becomes a major one. Next, even assuming the future portless iPhone comes with MagSafe, wireless charging will still be slower than wired. And the handset itself will cost more to make because Apple will (probably) put a MagSafe charger in the box. And they’ll cost users extra because most people will want to buy extras to have additional chargers at work, in the car, etc. Plus, you can say goodbye to some great accessories…
Check It Out: Save us From a Portless iPhone
Regarding the accessories comment, over time accessories die and need to be replaced anyway. Also, I know that I for one HATE wires and a wireless future would be outstanding!
As for the comment on recovery mode, in today’s iPhone that is true, but I suspect that Apple would build a different method for recovery mode prior to removing lightning port. Perhaps a dedicated redundant chip that would house the ability to boot to recovery mode without the need to plug in the wire, plus built-in wifi capability for connecting as needed for recovery mode. Simple and done.
Wireless charging is getting faster. I am sure Apple is just watching for the best time to make the move. As for benefits? Improved waterproofing, less hardware in the phone, less complexity in the phone (wiring all those tiny wires to a port that wears out over time when plugging and unplugging, plus a few bad yanks to the side and you’ve got to replace the port), Simpler processing by including ONLY wireless communications and not BOTH wireless and wired communications processing. Probably other things I am not even thinking of right now. I’m all for it!
“As for the comment on recovery mode, in today’s iPhone that is true, but I suspect that Apple would build a different method for recovery mode prior to removing lightning port.”
A magsafe port?