[macropanda]

This maybe a totally dumb question but I can't get my head around it.
A lot of people are saying apple is taking on USB C and Samsung and Microsoft already has.
Some phones support USB C but at the device end of the cable. The other end of the cable is a normal USB 2/3 fit and can be charged on almost any USB port in the world.

If Apple are taking on USB C, why not make the iphones USB C and leave normal USB ports on the MacBook so we just need different cables?

With the MacBook Pro I have, I can pick up and take anywhere without cables.

If I got the new one I would need an adapter to use an external hard drive and another adapter to use the SD card from my camera.

It loses the appeal of being a portable device when you constantly need to make sure you have all the accessories to be able to do basic tasks.

What am I missing?

[Jeroen7]

funny, I was just thinking about that when I picked up my lightning cable.

I think it has also to do with security. The iphone and ipad never had a usb interface.
But who knows, maybe it's changing in the future.

[Matty]

If I got the new one I would need an adapter to use an external hard drive and another adapter to use the SD card from my camera. It loses the appeal of being a portable device when you constantly need to make sure you have all the accessories to be able to do basic tasks.

What am I missing?

You not missing anything. Apple has just found a market for 'Less is more' and also, by having all the ports exactly the same. It means they don't have to stock other ports. Just a boat load of USB-C or lightning connectors. Might might save them money.

[Jeroen7]

One connector to rule them all!

might not be bad, as long as they don't change this 'one' connector too often. or just keep the shape as it is now and have some kind of backward compatibility, like with HDMI.

[Powerlinx Jetfire]

There are growing pains while we switch from the old USB types to the new USB-C, but the intent is for *everything* to have USB-C. Right now you need dongles, but in a few years projectors will have USB-C instead of HDMI. Hard drives will have USB-C. Your phone and your laptop will have USB-C, and you'll even be able to charge them with the same charger.

Switching phones to USB-C but keeping laptops on USB-A (the old, big one) would defeat the purpose. It's moving from one fragmented world to another.

For what it's worth, a number of phones are shipping with USB-C to USB-C cables (Google Pixel and Pixel XL, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6). By the time Apple moves the iPhone to USB-C, they'll probably ship a USB-C to USB-C cable, because a lot of laptops will have it by then.

[Ziich47]

The usb type c (thunderbolt 3) ports on the new MacBook pros are far more powerful than what you can get from usb 3.0.
right now if you have an ssd external hard drive usb 3.0 cannot transfer at the full speed of the drive.
Yes, the port may be inconvenient right now but in the next couple of years this will be the mainstream port

[angusmatheson]

Yes, this is a current pain point. But USB c is a dramatically better port. I think Apple feels that by doing it in 1/2 measures 1 USB c and 1 USB A (the old one). Unless Apple goes all in, no one feels the pressure to change. I think a world full of USB C will be even easier - monitors, faster hard drives, powered without having to plug in.