New 19-Pin Dock Connector To Support Micro USB After All?
Posted by CharlesMoore on Tuesday Jun 26, 2012 Under iPhone 5 Predictions, iPhone 5 RumorHere’s another spin on the rumor that Apple is planning to replace the venerable 30-pin connector port in the new iPhone with a new, more compact 19-pin proprietary dock connector format.
xtom at the Italian Melablog site speculates (a tip of the hat to Google machine translation) that Apple has designed a micro connector that will be mechanically and electrically compatible with the Micro USB port format, so as to comply with a European Union directive that mandates Micro USB compatibility for all mobile phones in the consumer-friendly interest of standardizing charger type proliferation with at least 30 different types of charger on the market.
In a December, 2010 release, European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani, Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, said: “I am very happy that the European Standardisation Bodies have met our request to develop within a short space of time the technical standards necessary for a common mobile phone charger based on the work done by industry…. The common charger will make life easier for consumers, reduce waste and benefit businesses. It is a true win-win situation.”
The EU release goes on to observe that Incompatibility of mobile phone chargers is not only a major inconvenience for users, but also creates a considerable environmental problem, noting that mobile users who change phone brands would be in the absence of standardization usually be obliged to acquire a new charger or chargers, and dispose of their old one(s), even if the latter remained in good condition, generating an estimated more than 51,000 tonnes of electronic waste per year in the EU.
In response, leading mobile phone producers including Apple, Emblaze Mobile, Huawei Technologies, LGE, Motorola Mobility, NEC, Nokia, Qualcomm, Research In Motion (RIM), Samsung, Sony Ericsson, TCT Mobile (ALCATEL), Texas Instruments and Atmel signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in June 2009 committing themselves to ensuring compatibility of data-enabled mobile phones within two years, standardizing on the the Micro-USB connector format.
Ergo, a proprietary 19-pin connector unique to Apple products wouldn’t be compliant and would appear reneg on Apple’s commitment to charger connector standardization unless it supports Micro USB. However for phones without a Micro-USB interface, an adapter is allowed under the Memorandum of Understanding.
And in order to maintain backward compatibility with returning customers investment in accessories that have been produced over the past nine years for the traditional 30-pin format introduced with the third-generation iPod dock connector, xtom theorizes that Apple could make an adapter like the one he’s mocked up, able to connect to the new iPhone 5 through the dock connector and support the 30-pin port format.
So what will Apple do (presuming they really are intent on replacing the 30-pin dock connector)? Will they go with a Micro USB compatible connector format, or opt for the somewhat kludgey adapter workaround for their EU customers. The EU market is huge, with an estimated 500 million mobile phones in use in the 27 EU Member States. Apple’s share of that would mean an awful lot of adapters.
On a related note, several forum commentators to my previous blog entry on this topic expressed confidence that third-party cables and adapters, etc. would be available as less expensive alternatives to Apple’s always pricey hardware. Maybe, but Apple has never licensed their proprietary MagSafe charger connector for manufacture by third parties in seven years now, despite plenty of demand, so there’s no guarantee that they would do differently with a new idevice charger connector format, especially if it uses MagSafe type engineering and has chipped DRM compliance connectors as is being rumored.
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June 26th, 2012 at 12:57 am
holy u guys are pumpin out articles eh?
no worries, im lovin it, keep em comin.
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June 26th, 2012 at 1:38 am
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June 26th, 2012 at 3:58 am
I’d prefer to see the micro-USB compatible connector.
My iPhone would then be compatible with a huge range of other devices I already own.
I realise it would obsolete some of my iDevice connectors but if the mobile market as a whole can move towards a standard port then it would mark significant progress.
(I’d also be able to more easily borrow chargers when I am at work if needed too).
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June 26th, 2012 at 10:07 am
@oscar
that’s their fault for not having iPhones
A hot comment -- What do you think?
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June 26th, 2012 at 11:57 am
@Blvck, I keep telling them to get with the program but they’re all luddites
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June 26th, 2012 at 12:59 pm
If the pins exist on the interface, then an adapter can be made. Charles’ writing on the smart chip built into connectors throws a wrench into the works, but the 30 pin dock has USB pins, mini/micro USB have the same pins (micro has an extra pin), but the point is, for charging, all you really need is +5v and ground.
Not sure if there is enough data to show that Apple phones are damaged by 3rd party connectors or if it’s just a cash grab.
A cash grab is great for my AAPL shares, but bad for my wallet.
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June 26th, 2012 at 4:22 pm
Hey Mikey, he likes it! So 9to5 just posted a story derived from Patently Apple that states how Apple has filed a patent for an inductive charging system that we can finally put a picture with. You think its possible the metal plate we were seeing in the supposed leaked photos was for inductive charging purposes? Here’s the link: http://9to5mac.com/2012/06/26/apples-rumored-ios-device-inductive-charging-solution-gets-pictured-in-patents/?tw_p=twt What I think would be amazing, bouncing off the antenna idea in the story, is if Apple could some create a wireless charging system where say an A/V wall plug module is plugged in and wherever a given device with the proper recieving paremeters (ie antenna) is would automatically begin charging in much the same way wi-fi works. It locates your device and requests a charge and bingo, auto-connection-o. It would be amazing if this was a standardized system for cellular and mobile devices so that they could be set up everywhere and effectively rule out ‘the drain’ we all experience (especially heavy users). Or at least something comparable. Airports, office buildings, stores, you name it. I would like to see the need for charging eliminated completely but it would be nice to find a solution that is workable in the next 5yrs. Charging sucks (oxymoron, I know).
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June 26th, 2012 at 4:32 pm
I would prefer to see a thunderbolt connector
. Anyway, it seems to me the comments section is more of a fight now 
. How fun. Can’t wait to get my hands on an iphone 5!!
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June 26th, 2012 at 5:45 pm
@Yungrasta, The thing about inductive charging is the proximity to the supply is needed, as induction is not as efficient as a direct charging done through the cable.
The key of inductive charging is convenience, as with my Sonicare toothbrush.
The way it works is there is a coil in the supply and the receiving coil in the phone/toothbrush picks up the charge, but the strength of the electric field from the source decays at a cubic rate (1/distance^3) so the source would have to be pretty powerful to do what you wanted.
Just don’t let grandma in there with her pacemaker.
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June 26th, 2012 at 5:46 pm
close proximity to the supply/source…
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June 26th, 2012 at 11:44 pm
As undfeatable said, I would rather fancy both Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 choices. Syncing just gets slower and slower everytime and it’s worse through wifi.
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June 27th, 2012 at 1:51 am
@Yungrasta, yeah that seems really awesome! I literally had a very long daydream about how cool it’d be to have wifi charge our phones everywhere we went lmao. Seems like if anyone was going to introduce the technology, Apple would be first.
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June 27th, 2012 at 1:59 am
@undefeatable, yeah you know… I can definitely see Apple moving to thunderbolt for the chargers. There has been a LOT of push advertising thunderbolt, yet I don’t know anyone who’s ever used that port before….so it seems like making it for the charger would be perfect
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June 27th, 2012 at 4:41 am
Thunderbolt would be very useful though you’d still have the charger incompatibility issue that governments are keen to stamp out.
A faster method for syncing and moving large amounts of data around would be a boon.
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June 27th, 2012 at 9:00 am
@Oscar I think they could make some backwards compatibility with thunderbolt. Thunderbolt is a type of USB port but if they want to keep it universal, they should go USB 3.0.
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June 27th, 2012 at 9:52 am
It could have both Thunderbolt and USB, as the 30 pin dock connector has Firewire and USB on it.
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June 27th, 2012 at 12:54 pm
I may have said this before but…
If there is the likelihood of inductive charging on the new iPhone why would we need a connector at all?
All the new updates are going to come directly to the phone through WiFi or possibly 3/4G. All the data will be synched with the iCloud so the only reason I can think of for having a physical connection would be to backup/restore the phone?
I suppose this would be reason enough as you have to do this periodically to get rid of the ‘Other’ data that builds up from fragments of deleted files. Unless of course you can backup your entire phone to the iCloud?
Ho hum, it is quiet around here at the moment so I just thought I would throw this one out there.
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June 27th, 2012 at 1:38 pm
@Vernicularis, now that’s a good idea from the future! lol.
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June 27th, 2012 at 8:27 pm
Honestly I’m tired of the proprietary connectors. This should be standardized. What an environmental waste!
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June 28th, 2012 at 3:59 am
@Cristian, USB3 could be a great compromise.
Also, if those commenters suggesting that both USB and Thunderbolt could be incorporated are correct then that too would be a workable solution.
Having said that, it’d be unlike Apple to move to a non-proprietary format in this instance, they’d lose any control over peripherals and the lucrative licensing that “official” products attract.
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