Apple last year finally ditched its proprietary Lightning connector in favor of the more modern and universal USB-C. However, only the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max benefited from the faster USB 3, while the non-Pro models still have USB 2 speeds. Unfortunately, this remains the case for this year’s models.
Non-Pro iPhone 16 models still lack USB 3
As seen on Apple’s website, only the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max models feature the faster USB 3 through the USB-C connector. While the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus also have a USB-C port, it’s only capable of transferring data at 2.0 speeds.
A typical USB 2.0 connection transfers data at up to 480Mbps. On the other hand, USB 3 allows data transfer speeds of up to 20Gbps (although the port on Pro iPhones is limited to 10Gbps). With USB 3, transferring huge files such as high-resolution videos from the iPhone to a computer or external storage is much faster.
Thanks to the higher speeds of USB 3, Apple lets iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro users shoot ProRes video straight to an SSD. However, there’s another thing to keep in mind.
At least with the iPhone 15 Pro, Apple didn’t ship a USB 3 compatible cable in the box. This means that users who want to take advantage of the faster connection must buy another USB-C cable. It’s unclear whether the iPhone 16 Pro still ships with a USB 2.0 cable.
Apple doesn’t have a USB 3 cable, only a Thunderbolt 4 cable that also works with USB 3, but costs $69. However, you can find a lot of USB 3 compatible cables for much cheaper prices on Amazon.
Pre-orders for the iPhone 16 begin on Friday, September 13, while the official launch is set for the following week on September 20.
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