Partial Tech roll outs are killing me!

[GWestphal]

MBP: Retina - USB 3.0 - Thunderbolt
iPad: Retina - 30 pin
MBA: USB 3.0 - Thunderbolt (different flavor though)
iPhone: Retina -Lighting

If you're gonna go Retina it needs to across the board! Looking at a Retina MBP or iPad 3 then looking at a MBA makes me what to gouge my eyes out.

Then you release lightning, but the other premier mobile device doesn't use the connector yet!

Is lightning USB 3.0 compatible? It seems there is a confluence of other things needed for that to happen/be relevant? First, a single NAND chips maxes out in the 40-60MB/s range, and USB 2.0 can hit 48MB/s so it is still adequate for the max speed of a single channel device. Unless there is some magic fast NAND on the horizon these single channel devices could be stuck at USB2.0 speeds for quite some time (multi channel chips?). Next, you'd need a USB3 controller on the iPhone which doesn't seem that hard. Apple could probably make a nice custom one if they needed too with their recent acquisitions.

What happened to the gorilla glass 2 love? Isn't it significantly stronger then gorilla glass 1, meaning you can use much thinner sheets of it, while being much more resistant to scratches than aluminum? The density of GG2 and aluminum are about the same at 2.70 g/cm3, so it isn't a weight issue.

What ever happened to the idea of an in display camera?

 

[Tegeril]

The iPhone is not on the same release cycle as the iPad. I don't see how the complaint about Lightning makes any sense. When they released the 3rd gen iPad they couldn't have magically also released the iPhone 5 then with Lightning. Much the same when they released the iPhone 5 they couldn't have magically also released the 4th gen iPad to also have Lightning.

Also the retina MacBook pro was specifically stated to be a preview of what's to come for their lineup. As you can see from the product page, it incurs a cost premium over similarly equipped systems without retina displays. That cost premium would also appear elsewhere in the product line and this was a first test. Changing an entire line of products that have different release cycles (see above) all at once is neither feasible nor advisable.

It's so much more complicated than what you're suggesting.

Regarding USB 3: considering Apple used the traditional dock connector for a significant length of time (9 years?) and it supported Firewire and later USB 2, I'd imagine that when they release a new connector that they have been publicly quoted as saying will be around for a long time, that they'd have thought forward to things like USB 3 when it is integrated in the devices they sell.

 

[Eug]

Lightning is likely USB 3 compatible, according to the teardown report I read, but the current iPhone 3 and Lightning cable are not.

USB 2 cannot hit 48 MB/s (or 60 MB/s) in the real world. Not even close. You'd be lucky to hit 35 MB/s.

BTW, here's a hint:

Apple often sandbags for its initial product releases. They release something insanely great, but at an insanely high cost, but nonetheless leave out some key features.

Sometimes the choice to leave out those features truly is technical, but often it's not.

 

[jpiniero]

Much the same when they released the iPhone 5 they couldn't have magically also released the 4th gen iPad to also have Lightning.

Ah, but they are. There are Rumors suggesting that Apple is going to refresh the iPad in October along the new Mini. Hence why they called it "the new iPad".