Apple Is Actually Killing The Dongle Too
With the introduction of the new MacBook Pro, Apple has made it clear that it believes that USB-C is the future. Not only are they saying it’s the future for external peripherals like monitors, and external hard drives, but they’ve also abandoned Magsafe, the company’s beloved charging port, in favor of it.
Apple Dongle's
But what most people aren’t realizing is that while Apple is making a record number of dongles and adapters, what they’re doing is trying to kill them off.
How? Simple. As more peripherals adopt USB-C, you simply won’t need a dongle to attach them to your Mac or to any other PC that has USB-C.
Think about all the products that will likely be USB-C-compatible within a year or two:
- Monitors
- Memory Sticks
- Wired Mice and Keyboards
- Charging Cables
- Most Smartphones (cough)
- External Hard Drives
- and much, much more
As soon as this happens, the world of dongles and third-party adapters is dead. You’ll be able to buy quite literally any external peripheral and plug it in. No more HDMI. No more DVI. No more VGA. All those die in favor of one port. Doesn’t that sound awesome?
I know what you’re thinking: “Why couldn’t they just wait a couple years until all the peripherals are USB-C compatible?”
Here’s why: Because there’s always a chicken and egg scenario when it comes to technology adoption. If Apple doesn’t make USB-C necessary, then it’s just going to take longer for USB-C to be adopted. You might think I’m wrong for saying that, but all we have to do is look at the history of Apple dumping and adopting various technologies, and you’ll quickly see that when they make big moves, moves that are sometimes seen as “user hostile,” the industry follows.
I’m willing to bet that in the years to come to every major computer and the peripheral maker will make their products USB-C ready. Hard drives, monitors, charging cables, all of it will have USB-C.
And guess who you have to thank for that? Apple.
