It’s amazing what can be discovered by taking a closer look at the inside of tech, and Nikkei Business has done just that and uncovered something which is possibly pretty cool.
They performed a complete teardown of the Lightning connector to reveal an extra mystery pin that could be inbuilt Thunderbolt support, however it is still unclear at this stage as it could be a number of other things, including something already in use or expansion room for the future, which could be USB 3.0 or something else.
Nikkei Business:
As mentioned earlier, connectors cannot be easily changed. So, it is quite likely that Apple offers an extra signal line system for future expansion.
“It might be possible to realize the high-speed data transmission of USB 3.0 by using the two signal line systems though it does not conform to USB 3.0 specifications and, thus, cannot be called USB 3.0,” one of us said.
“The name ‘Lightning’ is suggestive,” another said. “Apple used the name that can be associated with Thunderbolt on purpose. So, the iPhone 5 might support Thunderbolt in the future.”
Those are just our guesses. But, the happiest moment for us is when we are thinking about those things. We will continue to analyze the Lightning Connector.
Thunderbolt support is quite a logical suggestion if you ask me, but whatever it is (it could be an extra pin for expansion), we probably won’t see it in use until a couple of iPhone generations down the line of the iPhone or any other Apple product that uses it.
These are just guesses, as the article stated, so you shouldn’t take anything in this article as confirmed or even partially confirmed. Just possibilities as to what the extra pin could be used for. The only thing we know for sure is that there is an extra pin with no apparent use. After that we can form our own opinions.
Check out the full article for all the details.
