One of the most popular rumors about the iPhone 5 was the existing connector dock being replaced by a mini connector dock. The 30 pin connector dock was used for a variety of applications on the iPhone and it remains to be seen how this will be received by the loyal iPhone fans. But there are two things which we can decidedly imply from this patent grant.
The first one is that the new dock will mean that iPhone will compete with the other smartphones on the market, which make use of the micro USB port. The second implication is that all the accessories and peripherals which people had purchased for their iPhone cannot be used when they upgrade from the 4S to the supposedly soon-to-be released iPhone 5. This is a cause of worry for the current iPhone users.
About the New Dock Connector and the Patent
The patent for the new dock connector was filed back in the year 2010 which had the number 8222773. This was recently approved by the US Patent and Trademark Office and there is also a picture that accompanies the new patent. In that, the new dock looks similar to the micro-USB slot. But Apple, like it does to all its products, has added their own special touch to it by making one of the edges triangular in shape.
This appears to be an attempt to ensure that the users will not plug-in the jack in the wrong way. The patent indicates that the new connector will support charging as well as aid in data transfers which conclusively proves that this will be a universal port on the new iPhone.
All Your Existing iPhone Accessories to be Wasted?
One of the most disturbing implications of this new connector dock is that all your existing accessories will be wasted. Wasted as in, you cannot use them if you upgrade your 4S to iPhone 5. The existing peripherals can be connected via the 30-pin connector and you will be forced to buy new accessories for your iPhone 5. This is a good and a bad thing.
The good thing is that you will be upgrading all your existing accessories to newer (and obviously better) ones. So, the overall performance will be high. However, the cost is the main worry for iPhone enthusiasts. Even though they are reasonably priced, buying everything will put a big, unexpected hole in your pocket. The best possible solution is for Apple to provide the consumers with an adapter which will allow you to use all your old accessories with the new connector dock. But that seems highly unlikely considering Apple’s philosophy of dumping old technology to adopt newer ones.
The Bright Side
The thunderbolt connector, which is available in the latest MacBook Pro, looks similar to the 19-pin connector which will be supposedly present on the new iPhone. If that is true, you can experience high speed data transfers and high quality audio experience. This might revolutionize the way you will use your smartphones. But all we can do at the moment is to wait and anticipate.
