Saturday, September 22, 2012

Teardown revives hopes that Lightning might be USB 3.0-compatible

Teardown revives hopes that Lightning might be USB 3.0-compatible:
Earlier today we linked to iFixit's iPhone 5 teardown, and there's something interesting lurking in the pictures of the Lightning connector. Although it's clear at this point that the iPhone 5 only sports USB 2.0 speeds, initial discussions of Lightning's support of USB 3.0 have focused on its pin count—the USB "Super Speed" 3.0 spec requires nine pins to function, and Lightning connectors only have eight.




Enlarge / Image from USB.org







Enlarge / The Lightning cable and connector




However, iFixit's teardown shows the pins in the iPhone 5's Lightning receptacle, and there are two extras on either side:




Enlarge / The iPhone 5's Lightning connector disassembled. Note two extra pins, possibly for ground return.




The Lightning connector itself has two divots on either side for retention, but these extra electrical connections in the receptacle could possibly be used as a ground return, which would bring the number of Lightning pins to the same count as that of USB 3.0—nine total.
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