Knowing the difference of Lightning versus USB is certainly not a bad thing. After all, iPhones and Android phones not only have different operating systems, the ports also differ. While Apple relies on Lightning for its devices, Android manufacturers mostly use USB-C.
Lightning versus USB: The Apple standard explained
Apple relies predominantly on the Lightning connector for its devices. Whether this will continue to be the case remains to be seen. Because in 2016, Apple installed a USB-C port in the MacBook for the first time. The iPads from 2018 also have USB-C. Nevertheless, the Lightning connector, which was first introduced in 2012, still offers many advantages today.
- Balanced jack: The balanced jack means that it doesn’t matter how you insert the connector into the jack. So you can never plug it in backwards.
- Robustness: The Lightning connector is very robust. Due to its design, dust and dirt are automatically wiped off when the connector is inserted. Furthermore, the resistance when plugging in is rather low, which makes the connector wear out more slowly.
- Prevalence in Apple devices: Almost all Apple devices still rely on the Lightning connector. If you only have Apple devices, you can use a single cable to power all of your devices.
USB-C: Widely used
USB-C is becoming more and more popular on the market. In the meantime, not only smartphone manufacturers are using this standard, but also stereo systems or computers are being delivered with USB-C.
- Balanced jack: USB-C offers the same advantages as a Lightning connector in terms of design. Here, too, the connector is balanced and can thus never be plugged in the wrong way round.
- Industry standard: Unlike the Lightning connector, USB-C is supported by many manufacturers. In the future, we will probably see even more devices with USB-C. This will develop as a cross-device standard.
- High transfer rates: Most devices with USB-C offer high transfer rates. However, since USB-C only specifies the design of the connection and not the technology, it is generally not possible to make a statement about this.
- Some manufacturers use USB-C, but only USB 2 as the technology. This results in significantly lower transfer rates than the new USB 3.1 standard. For example, USB 2 only supports data rates of up to 500 Mbit/s, while the new technology supports 10 Gbit/s.
Which is better?
Although Lightning and USB-C have some things in common, like the balanced jack, there are also some differences between the two connectors. For example, some things are better with Lightning than with USB-C and vice versa.
- Lightning: In Lightning’s favour is the fact that the connector is more robust than USB-C. Furthermore, the connector is slightly smaller and therefore more compact.
- USB-C: USB-C is highly compatible. A great many devices are now compatible with USB-C and more will be in the future. If the technology behind USB-C is USB 3.1, the connection can continue to score with significantly higher data transfer rates.
- So Lightning is comparable in speed to USB 2. This means that devices with USB-C and USB 3.1 can transfer data up to twenty times faster than Apple’s connector.
- Conclusion: USB-C is faster and more powerful than Lightning with the new technology. Furthermore, the connection is more versatile due to the high compatibility.
