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

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

Since Apple has lastly embraced the business customary, 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 shocking quantity of issues through USB-C. You may solely get essentially the most out of the expertise with a Professional or Professional Max, for causes that’ll turn out to be clear in a second.

SSDs and card readers

Thoughts the efficiency hole

Because of each USB-C and adjustments to iOS through the years, nearly any exterior SSD or card reader could be linked to an iPhone. You’ll be able to’t set up apps to an exterior supply, or make one the default location for saved information (with one notable exception beneath) — however it may be a helpful manner of importing and exporting content material, say for those who’ve been capturing pictures on a professional digicam however wish to rapidly edit and add a few of them for social media. You’ll be able to import pictures and movies instantly into the Photographs app. For many different content material, you may be shifting issues out and in of Information.

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

The most important concern is pace. The bottom iPhone 17 and the iPhone Air are restricted to USB 2.0 bandwidth, which peaks at 480Mbps. That is nice for small transfers — however you will not max out the pace of an SSD, and enormous video transfers may take some time. At 480Mbps, it will take about 14 minutes to repeat 50GB of 4K video, whereas the 10Gbps ports on the 17 Professional and Professional Max may 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 may replenish quickly.

Wired keyboards

A final-ditch productiveness choice

Credit score: Clicks / Pocket-lint

Realistically, you will not get almost 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 are haven’t got a lot room to work with. However for those who completely must get one thing carried out and your iPhone’s onscreen keyboard is not slicing it, a USB mannequin will dramatically pace 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 individuals are nonetheless hellbent on recreating the BlackBerry expertise. If nothing else, the case ensures that you will at all times 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 you’ll want to put one thing on a much bigger display, iPhones can mirror their content material to a monitor or TV. You’ll be able to join on to some displays by the use of a USB 3.1 or Thunderbolt 4/5 cable, and an extra subset will even cost your iPhone when you’re plugged in. For TVs, in addition to displays that do not help DisplayPortover USB-C, you may want some type of USB-C to HDMI adapter.The key phrase right here is mirroring. Not like a Mac or iPad, you possibly can’t prolong an iPhone’s homescreen, so it isn’t like you’ll arrange a transportable workstation. At greatest you’ll exploit the “second-screen” choices in some apps, equivalent to video gamers. Apps that do not help second-screen tech will proceed to reflect all of iOS, so you could wish to activate Do Not Disturb for those who’re sitting down to observe Jurassic Park.Talking of flicks, you possibly can output 4K HDR video as much as a 60Hz refresh rate. That features help for Dolby Imaginative and prescient. Notice that any HDMI adapter you employ might want to help HDMI 2.0 or later.

Microphones and headphones

Most constancy

A outstanding phenomenon to me is that plenty of reporters do not trouble utilizing separate microphones, cameras, or recording techniques anymore. As a substitute, they’re going to function primarily from their telephone, connecting equipment as obligatory. I’ve seen some journalists shove a naked system in entrance of somebody to get commentary. Naturally, USB microphones can be utilized not only for journalism, however to take calls, or document music and podcasts. The standard of your mic goes to matter so much right here, nevertheless — if you wish to sound skilled, do not use the most cost effective mannequin you could find on Amazon.USB-C headphones aren’t particularly widespread as of late, however there’s at the very least one purpose to make use of them: lossless. Bluetooth merely would not have the bandwidth to deal with the best high quality of providers like Apple Music and Spotify. I discover that lossless is overrated, personally — you most likely will not discover a distinction versus high-quality compressed audio — however for purists, USB-C is the one method to fly.

Different units that should be cost

Principally Apple equipment

I might nearly forgotten reverse USB charging was an choice, if I am trustworthy. It is no surprise, although, since Apple would not point out the expertise fairly often, and it isn’t fairly clear what units will work. Formally, absolutely anything could be charged together with your iPhone as lengthy it helps USB Energy Supply (USB-PD) as much as 4.5W — however some units will mechanically ship energy the opposite manner as an alternative, equivalent to a laptop computer.What you possibly can safely assume is the power to cost an Apple Watch or an AirPods case. Watch out about this — when you may like the concept of topping off your equipment at any time when and wherever you want, absolutely charging one thing like an Apple Watch goes to take a giant chew out of an iPhone’s battery. It is best to make use of this as an emergency backup, say for those who’re in the course of a PEV group rideand your AirPods immediately give out.