5 issues you may plug into your iPhone 17’s USB-C port (that are not chargers)

On reflection, it is superb how tooth-and-nail Apple was in its battle to hold on to the Lightning port. The corporate waited till 2023 to modify iPhones over to USB-C, regardless of the actual fact the expertise first debuted in 2014, and Android telephones started adopting it in 2015. The one factor that pressured Apple’s hand was a European Union regulation standardizing USB-C on gadgets like smartphones. In any other case, there’s an actual probability we might’ve been caught with proprietary cables once more for the iPhone 17.

Since Apple has lastly embraced the business commonplace, that is additionally opened up the variety of equipment iPhones will work with. The iPhone 17, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max — in addition to the iPhone Air — can do a stunning quantity of issues by way of USB-C. You may solely get essentially the most out of the expertise with a Professional or Professional Max, for causes that’ll develop into clear in a second.

SSDs and card readers

Thoughts the efficiency hole

Due to each USB-C and modifications to iOS through the years, nearly any exterior SSD or card reader will be related to an iPhone. You may’t set up apps to an exterior supply, or make one the default location for saved recordsdata (with one notable exception beneath) — however it may be a helpful means of importing and exporting content material, say in case you’ve been taking pictures images on a professional digital camera however wish to rapidly edit and add a few of them for social media. You may import images and movies instantly into the Images app. For many different content material, you will be shifting issues out and in of Information.

There are a selection of different catches concerned. Some SSDs require their very own energy provides, that means you will want to attach them by way of a powered USB hub if they do not have a twine of their very own. And whereas storage will be formatted in APFS, HFS+, exFAT, FAT32, or FAT, playing cards and drives can solely have a single information partition.

The most important situation is velocity. The bottom iPhone 17 and the iPhone Air are restricted to USB 2.0 bandwidth, which peaks at 480Mbps. That is wonderful for small transfers — however you will not max out the velocity of an SSD, and huge video transfers might take some time. At 480Mbps, it could take about 14 minutes to repeat 50GB of 4K video, whereas the 10Gbps ports on the 17 Professional and Professional Max might deal with the identical course of in 40 seconds.

That is why you want a Professional to shoot 4K ProRes video on to exterior storage. And exterior storage is important at that high quality, since even a 1TB iPhone would possibly refill quickly.

Wired keyboards

A final-ditch productiveness choice

Credit score: Clicks / Pocket-lint

Realistically, you will not get practically as a lot out of connecting a keyboard to an iPhone as you’ll to an iPad. Most iPhone apps aren’t very advanced, and even those which might be haven’t got a lot room to work with. However in case you completely have to get one thing performed and your iPhone’s onscreen keyboard is not reducing it, a USB mannequin will dramatically velocity up your typing. I do know I would not even try to put in writing an article in Google Docs if I could not plug in a desktop keyboard.An organization known as Clicks sells devoted keyboard circumstances. I am not selling the product, however I do know some persons are nonetheless hellbent on recreating the BlackBerry expertise. If nothing else, the case ensures that you’re going to all the time see an app’s fullscreen interface, as an alternative of getting it obscured by a pop-up software program keyboard.

Screens and TVs

Who wants an Apple TV?

When it is advisable to put one thing on an even bigger display screen, iPhones can mirror their content material to a monitor or TV. You may join on to some displays by means of a USB 3.1 or Thunderbolt 4/5 cable, and an additional subset will even cost your iPhone when you’re plugged in. For TVs, in addition to displays that do not assist DisplayPortover USB-C, you will want some kind of USB-C to HDMI adapter.The key phrase right here is mirroring. Not like a Mac or iPad, you may’t prolong an iPhone’s homescreen, so it isn’t like you can arrange a conveyable workstation. At greatest you can exploit the “second-screen” choices in some apps, akin to video gamers. Apps that do not assist second-screen tech will proceed to reflect all of iOS, so chances are you’ll wish to activate Do Not Disturb in case you’re sitting down to observe Jurassic Park.Talking of films, you may output 4K HDR video as much as a 60Hz refresh rate. That features assist for Dolby Imaginative and prescient. Be aware that any HDMI adapter you employ might want to assist HDMI 2.0 or later.

Microphones and headphones

Most constancy

A exceptional phenomenon to me is that quite a lot of reporters do not hassle utilizing separate microphones, cameras, or recording methods anymore. As an alternative, they’re going to function primarily from their cellphone, connecting equipment as crucial. I’ve seen some journalists shove a naked machine in entrance of somebody to get commentary. Naturally, USB microphones can be utilized not only for journalism, however to take calls, or report music and podcasts. The standard of your mic goes to matter rather a lot right here, nonetheless — if you wish to sound skilled, do not use the most affordable mannequin you could find on Amazon.USB-C headphones aren’t particularly frequent as of late, however there’s at the least one motive to make use of them: lossless. Bluetooth merely does not have the bandwidth to deal with the very best high quality of companies like Apple Music and Spotify. I discover that lossless is overrated, personally — you in all probability will not discover a distinction versus high-quality compressed audio — however for purists, USB-C is the one approach to fly.

Different gadgets that have to be cost

Largely Apple equipment

I might nearly forgotten reverse USB charging was an choice, if I am sincere. It is no marvel, although, since Apple does not point out the expertise fairly often, and it isn’t fairly clear what gadgets will work. Formally, absolutely anything will be charged together with your iPhone as lengthy it helps USB Energy Supply (USB-PD) as much as 4.5W — however some gadgets will routinely ship energy the opposite means as an alternative, akin to a laptop computer.What you may safely assume is the flexibility to cost an Apple Watch or an AirPods case. Watch out about this — when you would possibly like the thought of topping off your equipment each time and wherever you want, totally charging one thing like an Apple Watch goes to take an enormous chunk out of an iPhone’s battery. It is best to make use of this as an emergency backup, say in case you’re in the midst of a PEV group rideand your AirPods instantly give out.