Apple Updates Made For iPhone Licensing Program With USB-C Ports, Lightning to 3.5mm Output Cable
Apple recently updated its Made for iPhone/iPad/iPod (MFi) licensing program to include specifications for USB-C ports and a Lightning to 3.5mm output cable (via 9to5Mac).
With the new specifications, accessory makers will be able to include USB-C ports on MFi-certified charging accessories designed for the iOS and Mac, with those accessories able to use the USB-C cables that ship with new Macs.
Third-party MFi accessories that include Lightning ports are able to offer passthrough charging, but Apple's new specifications do not allow the USB-C port built into an accessory to be used for passthrough charging or syncing of an iOS device.
Apple's documentation suggests speakers and battery packs could benefit from the use of a USB-C port for charging purposes.
As for the Lightning to 3.5mm stereo output plug, it is designed to let users connect to a 3.5mm input using a Lightning port on an iOS device, something that was previously only possible with adapters.
Apple also recently revamped its Made for iPhone/iPad/iPod logos, introducing support for the San Francisco font and replacing device icons with standard Apple logos.
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Top Rated Comments
You go, you buy a USB C charging cable. How fast will it charge your device? Who knows! It might be able to to PD or it might not. It might fast charge and it might not. Grab a lightning cable and an iPad plug and it just works.
Then we have headphones. Oh boy is that a mess. Go grab one of the few pairs of headphones that go by C and ... it might not work with your phone. Weird. How can such a universal plug be so fragmented?
That’s not even talking about the adapters that are just bad in the market right now.
You grab a lightning cable, a pair of lightning headphones, or any adapters and they’ll just work.
Let’s talk about USB PD and how it’s a mess too with the lack of universal accessibility through all USB C cables.
What are you missing by Apple not going to USB C beyond not wanting multiple cables?
[doublepost=1520885840][/doublepost]The amount of money they make from lightning licensing is a rounding error.