Superfast iPhone 14 Pro lumbered with superslow Lightning port running at USB 2.0 speeds

Most Apple fans are probably well aware that, besides exciting new features like the so-called 'Dynamic Island', the recently launched iPhone 14 generation still relies on the tried and true Lightning connector, which is about to celebrate its 10th anniversary after its official introduction with the iPhone 5 back in 2012. Unfortunately, this proprietary interface is also responsible for a rather annoying limitation that buyers of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro will have to live with.

According to a report by MacRumors, the aforementioned Lightning port found on the iPhone 14 Pro only offers slow data transfer speeds that conform to the outdated USB 2.0 standard. Under ideal circumstances, these speeds can approach the upper limit of 480 Mbit or 60 MB per second, which can certainly be considered slow for wired connections these days. This bottleneck can be particularly bothersome when transferring large 4K60 video files or ProRAW photos, which come in at an average of 75 MB per picture. The more modern USB-C 3.2 standard, which is not utilized in the iPhone 14 Pro, would allow dramatically higher transfer rates of up to 20 Gbit per second.

Therefore, Apple continues to recommend wireless data transfers via its native iCloud services or via the practical AirDrop feature, which is not a viable alternative for Windows users since it is only available on Mac computers like the new 2022 MacBook Air. If quick wired data transfers are still important to you, you might want to reconsider buying the iPhone 14 Pro and instead wait for the upcoming iPhone 15. According to several rumors, the 2023-bound flagship generation could include the very first Apple smartphones that sport a state-of-the-art USB-C port, which may even feature Thunderbolt 4 support like the current iPad Pro.

Order the 2021 11-inch Apple iPad Pro with USB-C on Amazon