It’s a joke: Plain iPhone 15s come with 23-year-old technology, USB 3.0 only on Pro

Apple recently introduced the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models along with the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. While reaching millions of viewers at the live broadcast event, Apple also introduced the USB-C port, which it used for the first time with the new iPhones. Of course, using this port is a positive development for Apple and users, but there is a catch. Let’s dive into this issue a bit.

USB-C but which USB-C?

As those interested know, USB is the abbreviation of the word “Universal Serial Bus”. USB, which means “Universal Serial Bus” in Turkish, is a serial connection format that allows external hardware to be connected to a computer or the iPhone 15, which is a regular in our topic.

A group of seven companies in total began developing USB in 1995: Compaq, DEC, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, and Nortel. The first integrated circuits supporting USB were produced by Intel in 1995. The USB 1.0 version, released in January 1996, offered users speeds of 1.5 Mbit/s. After intermediate revisions, USB 2.0 was released in April 2000, enabling higher speeds of 480 Mbit/s. Again, after intermediate revisions, the USB 3.0 specification was published in November 2008, opening the door to 5 Gbit/s theoretical speeds. This was followed by USB 3.1 in 2013 with 10 Gbit/s, USB 3.2 in 2017 with 20 Gbit/s, and USB4 in 2019 with 40 Gbit/s.

In smartphones, we have been seeing USB 3.1 speeds in the Premium segment for a while.

USB 3 is only available on iPhone 15 Pro

Going back to Apple, we see that the company uses the USB-C connector in the USB 2 standard (up to 480 Mbps) on the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models feature the USB 3 (up to 10Gbps) standard.

It’s unclear exactly why Apple stuck to the USB 2 standard on the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. However, this may be related to the A16 Bionic chip used in the plain iPhone 15s. Because the Lightning connector on the previous generation, i.e. iPhone 14 and 14 Plus, actually had data transfer speeds at the USB 2.0 level, that is, 480 Mbps. On the other hand, the transfer speed in previous generation iPhones was also limited to 480 Mbps. Whatever the excuse, the fact that the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, which appeal to the Premium segment, now have USB 2 speeds is ridiculous no matter how you look at it.